tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post3427413112555330320..comments2024-03-23T05:46:31.832-07:00Comments on Power Score: Thoughts on Running the Tomb of AnnihilationSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07263753821685936593noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post-68993567496758553212018-02-07T12:15:20.507-08:002018-02-07T12:15:20.507-08:00The tomb looks like it would be hard to DM for sur...The tomb looks like it would be hard to DM for sure. I am really enjoying your videos, although I need to get caught up on some of them! Right now I'm prepping to run an "open table" style campaign and I want to say that, having been a regular reader of your blog for a long time, actually seeing how you do things on video has helped me out with how I want to do pacing in my games. I would always read your session recaps and think "how could he get that much done in just one fairly short session?" I'm getting a better idea now of how you push your players to move on to new things or how you get through exposition quickly. I think you move faster than most DMs, which is nice and makes your videos easier to watch (I am easily distracted, lol.) I know that's not really what this post is about but it definitely helped me a lot.<br /><br />Everyone makes mistakes as a DM... I think the important thing is to keep things moving and not get confused. When I first started DMing if I screwed something up I'd go back or tell the players "Hey, I messed up, it's actually supposed to be this." But I did it so often and for so many unimportant things that my players ended up getting confused and I felt like I was always backtracking.<br /><br />How does someone get into one of your games? Do you still need a roster of possible players for the future? Or is it just people you already know or people who are already d&d famous (lol)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17682908419608618913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post-16566225818161685692018-02-05T10:04:15.208-08:002018-02-05T10:04:15.208-08:00Tomb is really tough to DM. I like the adventure, ...Tomb is really tough to DM. I like the adventure, although I think it's bloated and could haven been a lot shorter. The adventures are so long, complicated and are packed with so much stuff it's hard to zero in on what to use and not use. <br /><br />Totally agree on jungle parts, I used sections / NPC's that I really liked and even then felt like it went on way too long. The group got wings from monks at kir sabal and boom! welcome to Omu. <br /><br />The PC's are only 6 and are wandering around level 2 of tomb! Part of it was me wanting to get the real adventure rolling, part of it is them just doing whatever is right in front of them oy vey!<br /><br />I don't like that they can go all the way down and am going to change it so they need each skeleton key to get to the next level, rather than all 5 at the bottom. They need to get some XP and explore not just take stairs down and get killed!<br /><br />Made lots of little mistakes too just wing it as best I can. They missed King of Feathers but going to think of a way to fit it in. <br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post-56730070644927990502018-02-05T03:18:32.071-08:002018-02-05T03:18:32.071-08:00Sean, it is okay to make mistakes as a DM. It happ...Sean, it is okay to make mistakes as a DM. It happens, and even though the DM runs the world, it is really hard to keep the flow going when the players throw you off the course you expected them to take.That dungeon is HUGE and I had a feeling that area was not going to be exactly the same as the book due to our idea to keep going down. The important part was that you kept the game rolling even after we went into uncharted territory. I don't think any of us would've been the wiser of any of these "mistakes" because this whole dungeon is so out to kill you that everything that did happen seemed reasonable with what we had already encountered.<br /><br />Those mistakes you made sums up my campaigns whenever I DM at my home game. I got one player who always plays that big, tough barbarian/fighter character but he somehow always does the unexpected. (*CURSE OF STRAHD SPOILERS*) When I ran Curse of Strahd, this player was a white dragonborn barbarian. They got to a hallway in the Amber Temple with a 10ft. diameter hole built into it with one of the amber sarcophagi at the bottom. Before the party did anything else, he jumped right in! After taking the fall damage, the four flameskulls woke up and starting attacking. The entire encounter threw me off my game, the party barely survived, and only realized after it was all over that I never stated there was a door OR a sarcophagi down there! Those players did a lot of crazy things in that campaign that threw the module into a loop (like the greedy cleric taking all the sarcophagi powers she could), but that is what made it so entertaining.<br /><br />If you're curious, Zebediah was thinking that we should go down as far as possible and look for the Soul Monger and destroy it as quickly and carefully as possible. Why go through all the death traps if they can go around (most of) them? Without spoiling too much, our party didn't know anything about the skeleton keys needed to get to the Monger.<br /><br />I look forward to seeing where this "D&D Infinity Wars" Tomb of Annihilation campaign goes. They better destroy the Soul Monger!Scotty Hoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02339397921704101509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422181426312081107.post-27281602164476838862018-02-04T07:33:01.932-08:002018-02-04T07:33:01.932-08:00Great post Sean.
Have you played or seen anything...Great post Sean.<br /><br />Have you played or seen anything about Rodney Thompson's game Dusk City Outlaws? The High Rollers guys had some great streams of it last year. https://youtu.be/byquLqeGLn8<br /><br />The game is all about creating cinematic, heist movie moments. Your discussion of the T-Rex encounter made me think of it. Using challenge and boon dice and some of the mechanics from that game might make those encounters more fun in your D&D game. It's what I'm doing for social encounters and plot moving montages.jkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11607267502266638424noreply@blogger.com