Session 6: Discussion

So Session 6, how did it go?

Personally I think it was our best session yet with the possible exception of the first. We had lots of interesting bits of character development and interaction together with some highly entertaining and tactical combats. A few key pieces for me:

Azhanti decided to multiclass into Warlock. Mostly this is because he finds the Cleric Utilities wholly underwhelming. He really doesnt need more healing, the group is absolutely dripping with it. The Fey Pact (flavoured to elemental desert spirits) is also very fitting for him. His ultimate goal is to overthrow and ultimately devour his own God and replace him. He is starting to gather allies in the form of disgruntled spirits pushed to the very edge of extinction.

The convincing Udun and the travel through the Badlands was handled as a skill challenge which we have used several times before. I had set up Udun to have some auto success options (offering him food and wine) which Assamber ran with without even realising it. Matt is just a genuinely nice guy and that always come through with his characters. It has created some tension in the past (not KO'ing minions) but its nice to see it pay off occasionally as well.

The section in the Hall was cribbed largely from the Thunderspine Labyrinth module. I have stolen various parts of the setting and the name and added a variety of conflicts between the residents and quests. I also heavily reflavoured a bunch of stuff. I didnt want the Dwarves in charge of the hold so they and the orcs got shifted to various human scum. I also knew something as silly as beard spines would produce only mockery from my group so instead they got little glass vials of acid which worked much better.

The group turned down the chance to help the Tiefling, not really surprising given their feelings on Tieflings. They did decide to take on Rothaars quest to kill his treacherous brother and try to free his people.

The Chewi manouver is one we have used several time before in different games. Its an old one but a classic and the gate guards weren't very bright. Assamber also bluffed like a madman despite not having the skill. The fights throughout the first area were fast and brutal. We had a time limit of 10pm so were motivated but I am continually impressed by the speed of 4e combat, especially for a group not really used to it.

The section in the Great Hall was interesting. Artemis had been scouting ahead and had successfully locked one sleeping guard in his room with some Thievery shennanigans. We have a tendency to introduce stake setting into any game we play and D&D is no different. If he succeeds he gets info on the layout of the upcoming areas. If he fails something bad happens, generally a guard walks in on him or an alarm is raised. His Stealth roll was a 1, miserable failure. He surprised a slave who managed to alert the whole place.

Of course he could have remembered that Udun blessed them when they left allowing each of them one reroll but he didnt...:)

The fight with Rundarr was great fun. Stinking Cloud is very dangerous, as are criticals from magic great axes with the high crit property. Rundar was an elite with 180 HP, he lasted maybe 4 rounds and suffered about three criticals.

We also had our first use of the "stunt point". So far we have had a few people stunting in combat but it can sometimes be difficult, either because different people have different ideas of what should happen or what is cool. I have given each player a "Stunt Point", like an action point. It lets them have a go at some unlikely combat move without an option for sayin "no." It might not work, it might be really difficult, it mgiht be a "yes but" answer but the player gets to choose. They work like action points and encourage players to go for the more dramatic rather than just using a power.

If only Artemis hadnt fluffed his stealth roll the main building might still be blissfully unaware of their presence.

Finally, one of the best things about this session was that we fitted the entire thing into about 4 hours. It didnt flag at any point, everyone got to be invovled and interested even when it wasnt them "on stage" and the pacing was great.