DM Thoughts: Session 07
Here we are, finally with some of my thoughts on this session, over a month late...
In fact, the tardiness has become more the rule than the expectation with me these days, as I find that real life has finally caught up to me this year. Not that I am lacking in interest for D&D... no no, quite the opposite. Rather, I find that now for the first time, my ambitions as a DM are being tempered by reality, as the more I wish to do, the less it seems I have actual time to do it. Such has been the case with these DM Thoughts, with session summaries, with my Ahead of the Storm entries... All of these I would love to give their proper attention, but at times I just find that I am too busy with work, with housework, with errands, with visits, etc., to keep up with all the things I would like to do. In what little spare time left to me, I find myself naturally drawn more to relaxing activities such as video games, rather than something more challenging, such as a session write-up.
Yet, to this point, at least the actual game sessions have not suffered. That I can remain fairly confident about - that even if everything I wanted to have prepared for it in terms of online bonuses, or item cards, or 3D models, or NPC pictures - even if many of these things have not been used the way I had hoped, at the very least I still believe the actual game sessions have been up to par with my own expectations for the campaign.
And so, as I finally have a few moments for some catching-up, I start with these DM Thoughts for the past few sessions, in which I can share with you the readers, as well as my players, some of the background on the planning and execution of each adventure.
In this session 07, we finally began the true Savage Tide campaign, as written by its authors. The previous six sessions had been my own spin on things, an introduction both far in the past, and in more recent times. Both sections had gone of splendidly, but now it was time to get serious, and present the actual campaign in the best way I could.
And in this first "real" session of the campaign, taking place three months after the wedding, the central event was the matter of gaining access to a Seeker Ring somewhere on the Blue Nixie. As first battles of campaigns go, this one was quite large-scale indeed - a multi-stage fight between the party and several waves of enemies, in addition to a scary new monster, and a tricky boss. All of this on a complex battlefield with multiple levels. Such a fight is to be expected with higher-level characters, but at level one, without any prior warm-up of any kind? Quite the proposition, indeed.
The way I decided to play it was by using the poster map provided by the magazines - the one of the Sea Wyvern. Not the same ship, to be true, but similar enough - and having already completed a 3D model of a ship for use as the sailing vessels later in the campaign, this poster map would have otherwise gone to waste - so I wanted to use it here, so I could at least have it be good for something.
As for the fight itself, it went off about as well as could be expected: a challenge, but one that did not claim any lives so soon in the campaign. Such good fortune largely depended on the smart tactics of the party, as a bad plan could provoke a TPK (total party kill), while a good plan could make for a rather easy fight, despite the large odds. In my case, I've always been blessed with a smarter-than-most party, so I expected a good plan, and got one. Using a diversion, a bit of darkness, and some good cooperation, the guys pulled out a sound victory. Things were off to a good start.
Also, as Chris mentioned in his player's thoughts entry for this session, it was nice to have a chance to see our characters in action for the first time. The previous two sessions of role-playing had set up the characters' personalities quite well, but we still hadn't had a chance to really test their abilities and get to know that side of them - so a big fight like this was a good way to "scratch that itch", so to speak.
Sadly, the real test was yet to come, however - as the second major fight came the following week, and proved a far greater challenge...
In fact, the tardiness has become more the rule than the expectation with me these days, as I find that real life has finally caught up to me this year. Not that I am lacking in interest for D&D... no no, quite the opposite. Rather, I find that now for the first time, my ambitions as a DM are being tempered by reality, as the more I wish to do, the less it seems I have actual time to do it. Such has been the case with these DM Thoughts, with session summaries, with my Ahead of the Storm entries... All of these I would love to give their proper attention, but at times I just find that I am too busy with work, with housework, with errands, with visits, etc., to keep up with all the things I would like to do. In what little spare time left to me, I find myself naturally drawn more to relaxing activities such as video games, rather than something more challenging, such as a session write-up.
Yet, to this point, at least the actual game sessions have not suffered. That I can remain fairly confident about - that even if everything I wanted to have prepared for it in terms of online bonuses, or item cards, or 3D models, or NPC pictures - even if many of these things have not been used the way I had hoped, at the very least I still believe the actual game sessions have been up to par with my own expectations for the campaign.
And so, as I finally have a few moments for some catching-up, I start with these DM Thoughts for the past few sessions, in which I can share with you the readers, as well as my players, some of the background on the planning and execution of each adventure.
In this session 07, we finally began the true Savage Tide campaign, as written by its authors. The previous six sessions had been my own spin on things, an introduction both far in the past, and in more recent times. Both sections had gone of splendidly, but now it was time to get serious, and present the actual campaign in the best way I could.
And in this first "real" session of the campaign, taking place three months after the wedding, the central event was the matter of gaining access to a Seeker Ring somewhere on the Blue Nixie. As first battles of campaigns go, this one was quite large-scale indeed - a multi-stage fight between the party and several waves of enemies, in addition to a scary new monster, and a tricky boss. All of this on a complex battlefield with multiple levels. Such a fight is to be expected with higher-level characters, but at level one, without any prior warm-up of any kind? Quite the proposition, indeed.
The way I decided to play it was by using the poster map provided by the magazines - the one of the Sea Wyvern. Not the same ship, to be true, but similar enough - and having already completed a 3D model of a ship for use as the sailing vessels later in the campaign, this poster map would have otherwise gone to waste - so I wanted to use it here, so I could at least have it be good for something.
As for the fight itself, it went off about as well as could be expected: a challenge, but one that did not claim any lives so soon in the campaign. Such good fortune largely depended on the smart tactics of the party, as a bad plan could provoke a TPK (total party kill), while a good plan could make for a rather easy fight, despite the large odds. In my case, I've always been blessed with a smarter-than-most party, so I expected a good plan, and got one. Using a diversion, a bit of darkness, and some good cooperation, the guys pulled out a sound victory. Things were off to a good start.
Also, as Chris mentioned in his player's thoughts entry for this session, it was nice to have a chance to see our characters in action for the first time. The previous two sessions of role-playing had set up the characters' personalities quite well, but we still hadn't had a chance to really test their abilities and get to know that side of them - so a big fight like this was a good way to "scratch that itch", so to speak.
Sadly, the real test was yet to come, however - as the second major fight came the following week, and proved a far greater challenge...
posted by Markus the Mad | 8:01 PM
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