Hallo!

I'm not going to lie to you, Saturday was an experiment, and I learned a lot. I wanted to do a drop down drag out dungeon crawl just to see how things went. Now, everybody had fun, but it seemed like the tangents were more common and it felt like there was a general sort of "get us the fuck out of here" mentality to the group. This is probably the basics of DMing, but variety is more fun than dungeon crawl after dungeon crawl. The second scenario was a mix of skill checks and dialogue and battles (some of which were in fact dungeon crawls), and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. The reason DnD has sucked a bit in the past is because of the lack of variety to my scenarios. They were all cooker cutter, lengthy dialogue in the beginning, journey to hole in ground, kill x amount of denizens, reclaim y objects, return. Repeat. Now, it was kind of a chicken/egg situation, did nobody care or feel like putting much effort forth because the scenarios sucked? Or did I make shitty campaigns because no one cared? I honestly cannot remember. Seems like it might be a bit of both, at least that is what I tell myself.

I'm going to let you in on a secret, fights are easy. They are the simplest most basic form of encounters. Add up the xp value of the enemies, make sure it reaches a certain total, make two or more variations in the event of extra NPCs or extra players. Done. Repeat a few times. The DMG states that there should be roughly eight to ten encounters per scenario. Or maybe level. I can't remember which. Encounters can be traps, fights, skill challenges, anything that eats up more than the time it takes to open a door really.

I think my new template for scenarios will be three or four fights, a similar number of skill challenges/big deal traps/puzzles, and just something interesting. Which is a nice transition into my next paragraph: the steam wagon.

The steam wagon was supposed to be kind of a neat, wonky, fast-paced little side thing. Ensel was supposed to be utterly ridiculous, there was actually some dialogue about how bears are attracted to menstruation and the similar effect of wolf-iron on dwarves that I did not get a chance to use. Moving along. There was a steam lorry, which are steam powered trucks made up until...the mid 1900s I think. I wanted to expose the group to the steam driven aspects of the campaign and give them a chance to blow away some dwarves with cannons. I mean, how often do you get to fire a cannon in DnD?

As I was running the encounter I got the impression that no one was terribly amused and/or impressed by it. I also forgot what I involved a turbine in the process for, I vaguely recall there being a point for a turbine in there, but I don't know what it was. It wasn't an electric wagon and the powered armor didn't really have any electric components, it was mostly pneumatic actuators. Regardless, I felt like the whole scene failed and didn't really add anything to the scenario. I will have to work harder on making steampunk real to the group.

The Kusseth scenario is progressing nicely. I'm working on the portion centered around Spineplate finding his creator, it also involves Traith Harris. This scenario will be much more akin to the second scenario, a lot of variety. One quest/scene/encounter/etc will involve a feud! Another involes the group being temporarily deputized and aiding a warden in controlling a riot! I'm really excited about this scenario, but also somewhat concerned. Kusseth is basically a labyrinth of constant construction and twisting streets. There are streets that have literally not seen the tread of a warden's feet in over a decade. You ever see John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13? That kind of shit happens in Kusseth. Monthly. There are areas where there are no citizens, just bards and wardens (and their deputies) just making war in the streets. Kusseth is a big place, at least the size of New York City, there is a lot to do and a lot of trouble to get into. I'm concerned they'll just decide to set up camp there and remain there, which I would be ok with, except that I have things planned for Hell. Oh, by the way, Meroteth was what Hell was called when it was the capital of the Fell Peaks, then Cenn the Reaver fucked the place up when he conquered it and renamed it. Its not exactly common knowledge that that is what it used to be called, but you're not going to have to go looking in musty tomes in musty libraries for that info.

I have a plan for the fifth scenario, should be something interesting if I can get it to work properly. I might actually need a month or two to work on this one to get it where I like it. Or not. I really won't know until I start typing things down and trying to make stuff fit. The concept is fun and neat enough, to me at least, but I'm not sure about the implementation.

I gotta say, I was really concerned about this campaign and my possible botching of it and the possible waning of my interest. I'm doing alright though. Jeremy is a big part of that, just the complete turnaround in the type of gamer he is is just awesome to behold. As I said, I'm doing good. I'm planning ahead and cutting corners in a reasonable fashion where I can to save myself some work, I'm also not in DnD mode 100% of the time, so I'm not constantly running around in my own skull about it. There is a set time for DnD, a set time for TV, a set time for hanging out with Heather, and I attempt to keep it all separate so I'm not all about DnD all the time and don't just burn out about it every other day. I'm keeping my campaign coherent and not changing ideas every other scenario (like Shadow Chasers), I'm not working on another campaign while doing this one (aside from some slight GURPS conversion, which has ceased), and I'm kind of trying new ideas. These are good things my friends. I am actually a wee bit proud of myself that I'm doing so well, but a little bummed that Tony and Shawn won't/can't be there to enjoy the fruits of my labors.