Behind the Screen - Halfway Through Chapter 1

Hello and welcome!

Another quick post from Behind the DM Screen now that we are nearly halfway through Chapter 1. This time, I wanted to focus on some of the early aspects of the campaign and some tweaks I've done.

One unique aspect to this Campaign is the use of Secrets and assigning one to each character during creation. There are several adventure specific secrets which vary from helpful, to not so helpful, to downright problematic and the adventure book gives some suggestions on how to assign them (pulling a card, rolling for them, etc). We decided to let Adam choose his and we mutually agreed on his choices (so a combination of positive and negative) and we'll see how they play out. And it may be the case that I've also assigned some secrets myself, but let's wait and see. But we found this as a fun spin to put onto the characters which can have an impact on the story.

House rules. Always need to have house rules. And for us we followed suit with the rules that we have for Tyranny of Dragons. For example, at level up the characters always get the maximum HP - levelling up happens less and less as the characters get strong and its a nice little bonus to give. Critical Hits assign maximum damage on the first roll followed by rolling for damage on the second go - it is a Critical Hit after all, so it should do epic damage. The characters got to choose a Feat at level 1 - because even these new Heroes bring something extra to the table and they need all the help they can get at early levels.

We had to establish some new house rules in this campaign.

Druids - a powerful class. For Wild Shape, we initially were doing maximum HP for the animal but then felt that this was way too powerful so we decided instead to go with average (as it is in the Monster Manual). So far with the encounters this feels more balanced (and probably what we should have done in the first place).

Wizards - a very tricky class especially when it comes to learning new spells. The DM Guide and Player's Handbook gives guidance on how much time and money is required to learn spells. We felt this is not totally fair and distracts from the main adventure. So instead what we agreed on was that the time would remain per the rules (number of hours per spell level) and of course any spell components would have to be purchased or obtained somehow. The Wizard's starting gear includes ink and parchment already. And for the cost, we agreed that if the spell has consumable components then there would be a cost of practicing the spell but if not, then there would be no additional cost. This feels a bit more fair and in line with the adventure. We don't really have time to go around gathering loot just to pay for spells.

In the previous post I wrote at length about restructuring a bit Chapter 1 and using the native characters as exposition devices and that has helped streamline the story and make it feel far more cohesive. And I also wrote quite a bit about encounter adjustment to get the right balance of fun and difficulty and strategy to keep them engaging and not make them feel monotonous. So far that is going well. 

But there was one change which I was most excited to play out which was one of the starting quests. In the Adventure book they have provided two starter quests to help the Party come together. I used one of them to add the Goliath Druid to the party thanks to the Chwingas (and I suspect we'll see more of them as the Adventure carries on) but the other one was about a Cold Blooded Killer that needed to be apprehended. This was such a fun setup that I wanted to make more a story out of this.

I used the same story hook, just introduced it later as the overall story developed and the party moved from town to town. This allowed me to build up the threat of some faceless killer moving around and the modus operandi of course fit well with the Frostmaiden link. 

The Party came across the Caravan a few times - I had a few ways to see how the encounter could unfold and it did after the third meeting and it was a blast to run. Because Sephek was such a fun character, I beefed him up a bit - I maxed out his Hit Dice and I gave him an additional Bonus Action alongside his Misty Step which was to case Ice Knife 3/Long Rest. These two BA's gave him more of a mid-Chapter mini-boss feeling. Plus, the encounter itself also included Torrga and her pack of sled dogs just to keep Adam on his toes. And it was great fun to heal him a bit each round where a Fire based attack didn't land a hit. And my personal favourite, I was able to use a villain catchphrase of "Well the cold never bothered me anyway". Ok, I'll admit I was perhaps a bit more excited when I got to use that in game than I should have been, but at least I felt a sense of accomplishment. It also helps build the threat now that the the Heroes realise they have the attention of the Frostmaiden (although this will become more clear in the next session). But it definitely felt more fitting to his character to give him a bigger role as he really was a fun NPC and I will enjoy revealing his true nature in the next session.

Looking to the second half I can say that there are enough plot lines laid to where the story will really start to unfold on its own and I as the DM should not need to give much more guidance and prodding to make events happen. I have to say the Adventure book is well written and with just a few tweaks to get everything started and connected, now I can more or less follow it through. 

So far I am enjoying running it and am excited to get the rest of Chapter 1 finished and move onto Chapter 2 and beyond.

Until next time, happy continued painting and gaming!

-Pete (& of course Mtiz and Simz)