Dragon of Icespire Peak Campaign Diary - Episode 18 - Graboids?

The prep... 

Only the Essentials

I'm as surprised as you are. I had considered this campaign over. Then the player of the Druid mentioned that she was a bit sad to not see this adventure to the conclusion. Sadly our player who handled the Rogue was unable to join. I told the Druid player I had no problem running the game for her as a single player with a sidekick. I would have to adjust a few things I had originally planned, but it wouldn't be too hard. She declared she wanted to take that damn white dragon down, and so I pulled out my copy of the Essential's Kit and reviewed my notes. 

Now, I've been running my homebrew campaign for almost thirty sessions now, so I've gotten pretty good at using the techniques from Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master to prep for my weekly games. But I'm making up all that material: from the lore of the world to the adventure material. So picking up Dragon of Icespire Peak again and realizing how little I'd have to do was kind of a pleasent surprise. 

Going of my notes, I saw that I had focused so much on the Harvest Festival in Phandalin as the next big event. I also realized that a bunch of that stuff, while fun and entertaining, would work so much better for two players and the DM. It was all homebrew material, and I'm going to use it someday, but I know my Druid player. She is goal oriented. For her, getting to the Dragon was the big prize. I decided to just skip the festival, and say that her character had a good time and enjoyed it. I also mentioned that her partner the Rogue decided to work off her debt to Haylia and do a job for her in Neverwinter. 

Bout that time ol' Inverna showed up...

I asked the Druid player to look over the available quests. There was the Goldtoe Mine (which was the one I think they were going to do after the festival) and the logger's camp. She read over both quest cards and picked the logger's camp. Simple enough, deliver supplies to the loggers through the Neverwinter woods. Still she was wary and asked her old friend the Cowgirl Elf, Inverna to come along. 

Since I was pulling this together on the fly I flipped to the adventure in the book and gave it a quick read. I noticed a few key things. First was the boar they run into on the way (which is an anchorite in disguise) could act as foreshadowing for a later adventure. There is a totem hidden in the chimney of one of the ruins that is causing the Ankhegs to swarm. Finally I've never used Ankhegs before (but I remember them from the old Balder's Gate game). I was amused by the fact that the Ankhegs can tunnel, grapple and spit acid... damn. Luckily the adventure was pretty self contained and short - the perfect one for a quick pull up session.

I wanted to add the possibility of one more random encounter on the two day journey to the logging camp. Since they had run into undead orcs in a previous session I created a scene where the Druid and Inverna could come upon two more undead orcs set up as a trap. Other than that, I took a few notes for secrets and clues (the boar is an orc shaman, the totem is calling's the Ankheg, Tibor is a coward) and then got ready to DM. 

The story...

Sometimes a boar is just a bore.

We started with the pair going to Barthen's Provisions to pick up goods. Had a quick role-play moment as Barthen told them the name of the ox pulling the cart was named Vincent and that Barthen expected to have Vincent come back in one piece. I asked if they wanted to pick up anything else from the provision's store. However the pair had a bunch of stuff already (I just shifted a bunch of the magic items the Rogue had over to the Druid). So with that the pair was off.

I had her roll 1d6. On a 1 she would get the zombie orc encounter. Otherwise they would run into the boar in the clearing. She rolled a 5, so I told the Druid that Inverna was a bit more talkative than normal and the two ladies caught up discussing the happenings at Butterskull Ranch (where Inverna stayed to help in a previous session) and the excitement of the festival (we rolled and Rupert the goat lost to Black Phillip in the Goat races).

Up next was the encounter with the boar in the clearing. The Druid was cautious and decided to have the cart and ox go around the creature. I had her roll Animal Handling and she succeeded on the DC: 13. Vincent obeyed her commands. I also asked her to roll for Inverna to roll Strength/Athletics to help move the cart off the trail so it wouldn't get stuck. She also succeeded. So the ladies avoided the boar, and it raced off into the forest to the east (planting the seeds for danger in an upcoming adventure).

Then it was time for the evening stop and setting watches. On the fly I decided the "boar" would return to see what they were up to. The Druid detected the animal watching them, but she remained quiet and observant. Since she didn't react, the boar headed to the east again.

I'm sure it is nice and safe...

The next morning I had them roll another D6. She got a three this time, so no encounter again. Instead the the party arrived at the logger site. I read the description of the camp to the player. She was immediately suspicious of the holes in the tents and how damn quiet it was. They dismounted the cart and investigated the tents. I kept things eerie and mysterious as they examined the damage to the tents and the bedrolls. The Druid rolled poorly for Investigation and wasn't able to determine what kind of attack this was. As they started toward the next campsite, the first Ankheg attacked!

The ankheg rolled poorly on stealth, so it wasn't able to sneak up on the Druid. She heard it coming and we rolled initiative. It was a pretty intense battle. The Druid used Moonbeam to great effect, and Inverna swung with her blade. But the acid attack was vicious and both ladies were burned in the attack. They finally defeated the creature with a combination of Frostbite and a mighty strike from Inverna. The player sighed and said, "So now we're dealing with Graboids!"

Not quite Graboids, but
an incredible simulation!

The party returned to the cart. There the Druid cast Beast Bond on Vincent the ox, to communicate with him and he with her as they explored. He could warn them if he saw something coming or if he needed help. The two then went to the only standing building: the office. They circled the building peeking in the windows. They saw the floor was wood, easy for an Ankheg to burst through. But they didn't see anyone inside. They did see a closed door to a storage room, so they headed to peek into the window of the storage room. 

Unfortunately for them one of the Ankhegs heard them messing around (they weren't being stealthy), and it attacked. This time they were not caught unawares either. In fact they had a clever plan. The back of the office is close to a stone plateau. Inverna was able to climb up that easily enough, and she managed to get a rope down to the Druid at the last minute and pull her up, just as the Ankheg erupted from the ground. It was time for another dose of Moonbeam, Produce Flame and Inverna unleashing attacks with her longbow. The Ankheg did get an acid blast against Inverna, but they were able to take the creature out with little issue.

They climbed back down and headed to the storage room, peaking inside. There they saw the lone survivor, Barthen's brother Tibor. He barricaded himself in the storage room. They entered the office and told him they were there to rescue him. He was dubious that they killed all the creatures. Sure enough another one was charging toward the office. Tibor screamed and the ladies prepared for battle. The Druid hurried out doors and when the monster exploded forth she cast Entangle. The Ankheg was strong enough to break free, but the ground was still difficult terrain and his movement was slowed. But things got dicey, the Druid exhausted her spells.  She was doing the most damage to it, so the monster focused on her, driving forward and finally knocking her out with a deadly bite attack. Luckily it was also very hurt, so Inverna finished it off with a longbow shot. She then used their only healing potion to bring the Druid back up to her feet.

Could easily be in the
Monster Manual.

The pair hurried back to the office and found that Tibor had tried to escape through the window and was stuck. The ladies extracted him and got him back to the cart. He assured them that no one else has survived the Ankheg attack and that they should return to Phandalin. The ladies took him at his word and turned the cart around. Soon enough Tibor reveled his cowardly nature (mentioning that he was willing to sacrifice Vincent the ox and hiding in the middle of the crates in the cart for the whole trip). Both ladies were not impressed.

On the journey home I had them roll for the zombie encounter, but once again it didn't happen. I did have the boar return in the night, and this time the Druid got a good look at the boar. Still she didn't react, so the creature hurried away to the east. The next day the group returned to Phandalin, and returned Tibor to his brother. Barthen paid the ladies (100gp!). The Druid gave Inverna half the pay, and then spent 50 of the GP on another healing potion, because that last one came in real handy.

I told the player that the notice board had new adventures and that she leveled up! She was excited to increase to see what she got at level 4 and picked up a new Feat from Tasha's Caldron of Everything. I leveled up the sidekicks and the player picked the Woodland Manse as the next stop for the adventure.

The post...

It was a lot of fun throwing this quick session together. The book provided me with enough information to run it pretty smoothly with such short notice. I was able to adjust the difficulty as we went through the session (there can be up to 4 Ankhegs around). Since they are fighting the creatures one at a time it is easy to drop one or more from the adventure if you need to. After the Druid fell unconscious I figured it was probably a good idea to ignore that last one. 

I had a blast rolling physical dice again, and seeing my player's face as events occurred. Playing online has many advantages, but since we play audio only it can be hard to read how well the players are enjoying the adventure. I did stumble a bit, referencing the book a few too many times. I keep forgetting that I have the adventure on D&D Beyond, and can reference the text as well as the images for the adventure. I also goofed when showing my player the map. She was able to see some text behind it, and a spoiler for the site was revealed. 

The player had a good time and was looking forward to playing again. The Manse it a bit more complicated so I'll have to take some time to prep that one, but all in all this went well. 

Up Next...

Session 19: The Falcon and the Pumpkin Patch

Blog Update

 So it has been quiet around here for the last few months. As I mentioned in my previous post, my Dragon of Icespire Peak game was cancelled because of COVID. The good news is that I'm still playing D&D each week. The bad news is that my blogging time has been cut down severely.

I'm running a home brew game in a world of my own creation. Between all the world building, and session planning, I'm not having a lot of energy or time to write a full campaign diary for the sessions.

If you are curious about my world building, you can check out my page over at World Anvil for Reluria. It is based on the old D&D Basic setting of Mystara, but I've added my own twist to it. I'm using the same basic maps of Mystara and even some of the information from the Gazetteers which I've been picking up. I uses these as a jumping off point and then weave my player's stories and histories into the setting.

I post new content over there each week. Most of it is probably too much detail for my players, but I'm enjoying building all this right now and if I end up running more adventures in this setting in the future, I'll have it all set up.

Anyway, I hope to return to posting here a bit more frequently, but until then, thanks so much for reading the blog. I read and try to respond to all the comments. Stay safe and keep your ears open for any good stories you might  hear.

The Dragon of Icespire Peak Campaign Diary - Mid Campaign Wrap Up

(We did end up picking the game up again, but with only my Druid player and a sidekick. Read about the continuing adventure with Graboids!)

Wrapping it all up

Still out there making mischief!

Once the virus hit, it became impossible for our little group to meet up again. One of the players was an essential worker, and her job kicked into high gear. We weren't able to come up with a consistent meeting time or day, and came to the agreement that the campaign is on pause. But in all honesty I think we are just going to stop right here.

If things get to a new normal, and my players want to pick up where we left off, then I'm willing to adventure with them once more. For now, the dragon is still flying  over the Sword Mountains and terrorizing the folks in Phandalin. Somewhere a elven druid and her tiefling rogue companion are preparing to take it down.

Game Talk

I was able to discuss the campaign with one of the players and get her feedback on her experience with it. This was a HUGE help in guiding my approach to my next campaign (which is happening sooner than I thought). She confirmed some of the elements I experienced, and I also learned a bit more about her as a player and what kind of adventure she was looking for.

So the big stumbling block for her, were the episodes in town. The player felt those dragged on too long and didn't feel like they offered much to the story. I would feel the same way at times. I enjoyed playing all the townsfolk in Phandalin, and some of the interactions were a blast (Harbin in particular). But I agreed that it often felt like the story took a back seat as they wandered around the town and interacted with all these folk.

Voted most useful companion!

I've been listening to Sly Flourish's one on one version of The Dragon of Icespire Peak to hear how differently he handled it and for one player. One of the big differences was that he kept the town moments very short - ten minutes max. The player was there to pick up the job, rest in the inn, and that was it. He only really narrated something if there was a new element in play. In one instance he had some bards show up and attempt to make a song about the heroic adventurers... with humorous results.

Now, I've played in a couple campaigns where the shopping/town sequences can bog down the whole game, but we've had some players that love that stuff. So it is important to figure out what works and keep the approach balanced. My player is very goal oriented, and so I understand how she felt the "between encounter" segments were not her favorite.

However when I asked her what parts she really enjoyed, she mentioned nearly all the encounters and puzzles (she's a big fan of puzzles). She like the set piece encounters and the exploration of the excavation site, as well as the battle at the Shrine. She also enjoyed the side kick characters, although she felt Inverna (cowboy elf) was the better one, and that Donnabella (the magical unicorn) was more of a liability. I did remind her that they didn't really get to see Donnabella at her best. She got to cast one spell in the entire Gnomengarde exploration.

Reflection

Overall it sounds like my players had a good time. I know I did. I learned quite a bit as well. I've been playing online using a virtual tabletop for nearly three years now. So running a game at a physical table was very different in some ways. I really came to appreciate how much math the virtual table tops do for you. But I also liked rolling physical dice and seeing the players faces as things happened (I play voice only online).

This game has a dress code?

I think I've improved as a DM. It felt like I had a better handle on pacing, with only the town sessions really giving me trouble. I really liked running from a published module, it gave me a nice spring board to build on. It's fun to know that my version of the game is the only one where zombie orcs can attack in Conyberry, or where a festival of High Harvest included goat racing. I am sad that we never got around to the festival. I put a lot of work into it, and was really looking forward to it. But I kept all the materials so maybe I can include it in a future game (or if we ever come back to Phandalin I'll have it ready).

All that said, I had a lot of fun hanging out with my friends in a fantasy world for a few hours, enjoying each others company, rolling funny shaped dice and talking in silly voices. It is a shame it ended too soon, but we made some great memories while it lasted and that is the important thing.

What's Next?

Once I realized we were not going to be able to meet for a long time, I started thinking about running an online campaign. I talked with the player of the Druid, and she was game to give it a try. So I started pulling some concepts together. I've had a home brew world cooking away in the background for a couple years now. I think it is time to unleash it on some players and see what kind of stories we can make. I'm looking forward to it, and who knows maybe I'll write a diary about here.

For those of you that have been reading and enjoying the diary, thanks so much. I'm sorry you didn't get a proper ending. But if this helped you with your own version of The Dragon of Icespire Peak, than it was worth writing.

Perception or Investigation - Dungeon Master Tools

Why open a "trapped" door yourself when a friend can
open it?

Like my previous look at Athletics or Acrobatics, I'm going to examine the difference between Perception and Investigation skill rolls in 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. These two checks come into play a lot during a game, and they are often ones that seems to cause some contention at the table. Usually you have characters with higher wisdom scores, like Clerics or Druids competing with higher intelligence scores like Wizards and Rogues wanting to use the skill that best suits them. Let's take a close look at the situation and see what skill is really called for.

Classic example, the adventuring party is tracking down the orcs who have abducted the village wizard and spirited her away to their overlord. As they pursue the orcs into a dense woodland, the group is staying on alert, knowing that orcs aren't completely stupid. The monsters may anticipate a tail. Sure enough a group of three orcs lie in wait to ambush the party. You ask for a Perception check from a character who is proficient. The Druid says he is and starts to roll, but the Rogue says that she has a higher Investigation skill modifier and wants to roll too. What do you do?

That dragon has one hell of a
stealth score!

In this case you can have both characters roll for their individual skills, because both apply. Let's look at each skill individually. According to the Players Handbook, Perception "lets you spot, hear or otherwise detect the presence of something. It measures your general awareness of your surroundings sand the keenness of your senses." It is directly tied to Wisdom with "reflects how attuned you are to the world around you and represents your perceptiveness and intuition". It would be safe to say that the Druid's experience of living within the woods, knowing the sounds of bird and beasts would allow him to perceive changes in the environment that may be caused by the orc rearguard. A Perception check makes sense.

The Players Handbook describes Investigation as when you "look around for clues and make deductions based on those clues." It is tied to Intelligence score which "measures mental acuity, accuracy of recall and ability to reason." So if the Rogue notices some broken branches on a cluster of shrubbery, the lack of animal sounds in the area and even the slight indentation of a boot print, she may put the pieces together to determine that someone is hiding and waiting to ambush.

You can see right away that there is a grey area here. How can the rogue pick up these clues without perceiving them? How can the Druid deduce from the signs of nature the ambush around the corner? In this case, I have no problem letting both characters make the roll. Perhaps the characters work together to piece the ambush together (if both roll well). Or you can have the Rogue roll with advantage (roll two D20s and use the higher roll) to say that the Druid was assisting her with the Investigation. Or vice versa. Like my previous post explained, the goal is to make sure you let your players do the cool things their characters can do.

Between the two of them, I think they got this mystery
solved.

Let's flip the tables a bit. Suppose the party is looting the office of a corrupt mayor looking for evidence that he is being bribed by the evil wizard. The Druid's high Perception will not help in this case, because what they are looking for is specific documents or a paper trail. The Rogue's Investigation skill will be a big help here as she pieces together the correspondence that proves the mayor is corrupt. Luckily she has the Druid along with her to keep an eye out for trouble. So when the mayor's deadly elf bodyguard tries to sneak up the stairs, the Druid rolls his high Perception skill and detects the assassin.

Another way they can work together is in detecting and disarming traps. The Druid may be able to find the discolored cobblestone on the floor. But he will need the Rogue's keen Investigation skill to put together how the trap works, and then her nimble fingers to disarm the danger.

The main idea is to keep the two skills distinct enough when possible so the players feel like they are specialized and able to use those talents when needed. It keeps the players working together to solve problems. It also lets you as the DM to build encounters that play to their strengths or prey on their weaknesses. Because sometime even heroes have a bad day.

The Dragon of Icespire Peak Campaign Diary - Episode 17 - The Night Before the Festival

The prep...

A quick search on the internet will reveal all kinds of fun
festival mini-games.

Ok I'm going to admit right off the bat that I probably spent way more time than I needed to on this little bit of home-brew content. But after the fuss I had the NPCs in Phandalin make about the festival, I figured I might as well make it a bit of an event. I curious to see how it plays out for the players, and if they find it as much fun as it was to put together.

I did some research online to find some skill challenges and mini-games to have at the festival. I wrote down some notes on the mechanics for the ones I think would fall into the wheelhouse of the player characters. Events include an archery contest, a scavenger hunt, a card tournament and of course goat races. None of these are mandatory for the players to engage in, but all have prize money and I know for sure the Rogue is looking for anyway to make coin to pay off Haylia.

I created some NPCs visiting the town on this feast day. Some will provide information for the current campaign. I have also thrown in a couple with seeds for Princes of the Apocalypse as well as the official followup to this adventure Storm Lord's Wrath. We'll see if either one grabs the characters (although I've been seeding Princes for a few sessions now).

There are also some vendors in town selling unique items like Silvered weapons (needed for later missions) and health potions. Yes the dragon is going to be sighted during the event, just to keep the tension up. All in all, there is plenty to do. I spent quite a bit of time creating new NPCs and working on the festival events. The NPCs will be useful to flesh out Phandalin a bit more, so even if the festival doesn't click, I'll have new characters for the players to interact with. I've also finally made a list of NPC names (something I should have done a long time ago) just in case my players decide to talk to the random halfling drinking at the inn. (deep breath). Ok, let's see how this goes.

The story...

I told the players in advance that they had a couple days before the festival started. So they could spend those days doing anything they wanted, and we could role play any key events that got their interest. So I started working through the events, and the players ended up interacting with just about every single one! In the end, we didn't actually get to the festival.

To win, he'll stop at nothing!

I handed out the list of events for the festival and the players were immediately caught up in the idea of Goat Races. So they went around town asking about which goats were participating. I had established that Donnabella had saved a goat named Rupert during the white dragon's attack on Phandalin earlier in the campaign. So now I revealed (retconned) that Donnabella was out training Rupert for the goat races when that occurred. So the players had a connection to the event. I made Rupert the middle of the road option for the race, but if encouraged he had the potential to win! I also made the favorite goat Black Philip (which the players heard as Black Peter, so we just went with it). Yes Black Philip is a reference to the film The Witch, just for fun. Or is he really tied with infernal forces? Not sure, but I can go that way if we want. The players promised to help Donnabella get Rupert into racing condition and did some research to find out that Rupert loved apples. So tempting him with apples and having the Druid speak to him is the next step. Rupert's owner, Margo also has some story hooks to deliver, and I hinted at those.

They met some old friends like Adabra the alchemist. Norbus and Dazlyn, the dwarf archeologists showed up to talk with Fargrim Rakencrack (at a lunch event). They also met an older dwarf who helped out Haylia at the Miner's Exchange. The players wondered if he was also part of the Zhentarim... I'll let them wonder.

To the west of Phadalin lies a new adventure...

Lots of visitors from local areas arrived. Obviously Fargrim came with a group of adventurers acting as his body guard. I had them chatting a bit about the dragon and wondering if they should try to take it down. A group of merchants arrived from Yartar and Triboar. They brought more news about things going badly in that area (tied to Princes of the Apocalypse). Finally I had a traveler from Leilon show up and talk to the players about her new town and how they are looking for adventurer's to help make the village a center of trade and travel in the area. This is a plot hook for Storm Lord's Wrath. I also had a couple elven bards show up and chat with the Druid about her background in the Feywild.

I'm really abbreviating everything that happened, because it was a lot of role play, discussion about which festival events to try, and checking out the stalls and stores to see what kind of deals and specials they were planning.

We ended the session on the morning of the Festival. The characters were awakened to the smell of cinnamon apple pancakes in the inn. Then they headed off to find Donnabella and Rupert to see how he was doing the morning of the race.

The post...

I swear it is happening next time!

This session was a lot of fun for everyone and it just flew by. I created hand outs for the festival events as well as a lengthy menu for the Stonehill Inn. These items delighted the players and they referred to them throughout the session.

I introduced a LOT of NPCs in this session and I'm going to create a handout for them to keep as a reference for the day of the festival in case they want to interact with any of them. I was prepped for all the mini-games, but we didn't get to any of them. I admit I was a bit disappointed, but the session was so much fun, it doesn't matter. I love that this is a role-play heavy group. But I think they'll be ready for some hack and slash when the festival is over.

I'm also pleased how much the players enjoy the townies of Phandalin. If we move action to Red Larch or Leilon for future adventures, it will be tough to compare those folk with these that the players have really grown to like (especially Donnabella, Tobin and Inverna). But that is a worry for future DM. For now, I'm looking forward to the next session,

Up Next...

Session 18: Graboids?

Athletics or Acrobatics - Dungeon Master Tools

Acrobatics or Athletics... never mind, just RUN!

For Fifth Edition Dungeons and Dragons characters have a variety of skills they can excel in. Some of these get boosts based on race, class, and experience. One of the trickier determination players and DMs run into during the course of the game is determining if a physical action requires an Athletics skill roll or an Acrobatics skill roll.

What I have seen happen is that the player wants to roll the skill they have the higher score in (naturally) and may push back on the DM when the call for the other.

For example, the Rogue is attempting to climb up a castle wall. Like most Rogues, her Dexterity score is high and she gets a bonus to Acrobatics skill roll. She asks to use her Acrobatics skill to see if she succeeds in climbing the wall. But the DM asks for the strength based Athletics skill instead, determining that it takes physical strength to climb the castle wall. The Rogue scoffs. Her Strength ability score is low and she has no proficiency in her Athletics skill. Her attempt at being the cool infiltrator is neutralized.

Was the DM correct?

On page 175 of Players Guide you see an explanation of the Strength ability score. It describes it as the measure of... "bodily power, athletic training and the event to which you can exert raw physical force." Page 176 describes Dexterity as the measure of "agility, reflexes and balance." So the skills related to those abilities would correspond.

Specifically, the Athletics skill which is related to the Strength ability "covers difficult situations you encounter while climbing, jumping or swimming. The Acrobatics skill which is related to the Dexterity ability "covers your attempt to stay on your feet in a tricky situation, such as when you're trying to run across a sheet of ice, balance on a tightrope or stay upright on a rocking ship's deck".

Having the right gear at the right time is always good.

I would say that the DM in my example made the right call. Climbing a castle wall would require an athletics skill roll. This doesn't mean the Rogue is neutralized. If she has climbing gear in her equipment pack, she can use that to reduce the difficulty class (DC) of the climb check. Or maybe she has rope and grappling hook prepared. Because she has a high dexterity, she would probably get a nice bonus to throwing the grappling hook (the DM could treat that as a missile weapon attack, something that a high Dexterity score would improve). Once the rope is secured, her climbing DC will either drop or vanish completely (depending on the DM).

Let's try a different example. A Paladin and Rogue are on top of a tower watching a battle between dragons. It is all fun and exciting until the brass dragon hurls the blue dragon directly into the tower they are on. The violent shock causes both characters to loose their footing and start to fall off the tower. The Paladin wants to roll Athletics counting on his high Strength ability to keep his solid stance. The Rogue thinks an Acrobatics roll is needed instead, her high Dexterity would surely come into play in this situation. The DM decides that it will be an Acrobatics check. Sure enough the Rogue keeps her footing, but the Paladin loses his. Crying out in alarm, the Paladin falls over and the weight of his armor and momentum from the tremor sends him hurtling toward the edge!

At this point the Paladin can attempt to grab hold of a piece of masonry to stop from tumbling over the side. As a DM I would ask for a Strength saving throw and if he fails that, maybe let the Rogue roll a Dexterity saving throw to see if she gets her rope out to the Paladin in time for him to grab at it.

"How dare you sir. I would never smash into a tower!"

There are other instances that may be a bit grey, where it seems like either check may apply. In that case, if the players can provide convincing reasoning why they would use one skill check instead of the other, go ahead and let them roll it. Remember that the idea is to create a fun exciting story around these characters. You don't want to stop them from being the cool heroes. As a DM you want them to succeed, but not with out peril.

With new players it is important to remind them that they can use anything in the environment on their person in unique ways. Before they make that check, ask them to look through their gear, review their spell list or give them a hint from the environment description. New players may be more used to video games, where that kind of thinking isn't as frequent.

Hopefully this helps guide you on how to adjudicate which of these two skill rolls to ask for and when. They are ones I see most often confused and argued, but have you seen ones that come up more frequently?

The Dragon of Icespire Peak Campaign Diary - Episode 16 - Botched Bountyhunters

The prep...

"How tough can a rogue traveling with a druid
and a unicorn really be?"

I wanted the players to start the session with a bit of combat. Things have been simmering between them and Haylia's hired toughs for a while now, and I figured it was time for the two groups to face off. I decided that the Halfling spy was tired of being humiliated and he convinced the other three toughs that they could capture the Rogue and get the bounty on her head for themselves. So they set up an ambush for the characters as they were leaving Gnomengarde. Unfortunately for the goons, the group decided to spend the night with the gnomes, so any advantage they would have attacking at sundown would be lost. Still, these guys are stupid, so I figured they would try it in the morning anyway.

I also prepped for the Highharvest Festival that I had been hinting at over the course of the game. I had found some ideas for fun festival activities. I also decided that Lillian would be selling silvered weapons at a discounted rate (one of the upcoming adventures contains creatures that can only be hit by silvered or magical weapons).

Unfortunately we had a real late start this session and we didn't get much past the goon attack. The group spent some time in Phandalin afterward doing some minor things, but we decided to end the session before the festival started (little did I know this Festival was turning into a major part of the game).

The story...

Gnomish goodbye?

We jumped backward in time a little bit, as I had the characters settle in the bunkhouse for the evening in Gnomengarde. I asked them about watches and the decided to take them. During the Druid's watch, she heard a strange noise from outside. She did some investigating (making some great stealth rolls) and could just make out a figure moving away from Gnomengarde toward the narrow pass leading into the area. She returned to the bunkhouse and told her companions about the figure the next morning.

The party said their goodbyes to the gnomes and then headed out. But they were being super careful, rolling for perception checks and survival checks to find footprints. They rolled very well and noticed sets of fresh footprints in the area. They saw the spot where the gorge narrowed, and realized it would be a great place for an ambush. So they were ready when that ambush occurred.

I was using the standard Bandit stat blocks from the Monster Manual for these guys. I tweaked some of the weapons a bit by adding a short bow here and a hand axe there. It didn't impact the damage output too much. All it really did was alter the flavor of the encounter. I had two of the thugs attack from range and under partial cover. The other two would get in close with clubs and try to knock out the Rogue. Well the party rolled really well for initiative, and got some of the first shots off. The bandits rolled poorly and missed just about everything at range. The Druid unleashed her Moonbeam spell again and pretty much torched the two thugs with clubs. The WORST SPY EVER was knocked out by a Sleep spell from Donnabella and the last one surrendered when he failed a morale check.

Sleeping halfling dreaming of a gooseberry pie
as big as a mountain!

I do like rolling morale checks for enemies. I essentially have them make a Wisdom Saving throw against a DC I decide. If the battle is going poorly the DC is higher. The last thug, a dwarf, rolled pretty badly and surrendered. The group questioned him and he said that the WORST SPY EVER came up with the idea to ambush them and convinced them all to do it for the coin. He also told them a little more about the bounty hunter that was after them. He said she was known as The Huntress, and that she was very famous for always taking her bounty. But that she thought of the whole thing as a game. The group let him live and he ran off toward the sea. But the group took the sleeping halfling spy and tied him to the collapsing pool and dragged him back to town.

What followed was them dragging the poor guy along with them as they visited each and every place in town as a public display of not messing with them. They visited the general goods store, and experimented with the Treasure Barrel. They purchased the petrified mouse, and then tried to send the construct fish back through the barrel. It didn't work, but I kept rolling a 1D4 to see if it anything would happen. Then they went to the inn and had a drink. I had Quinn Hightopple run in and punch the tied up spy in the crotch, much to the delight of the players. Then they went to the Shrine of Luck, and finally visited Harbin.

Every adventuring party needs a pole.

They gave Harbin the Hat of Wizardry for 50 gold. But he wasn't interested in the other items. He asked them to stay for the festival (he is thinking it would be good to have them around for extra security). I told them about the events at the festival, so they would have an idea. Harbin also reminded them about the other two missions. One is an escort mission to the Gold Toe Mine and the other is to check on a Logger's Camp. The characters had seen the dragon flying around near the forest, so they weren't too excited about going there. But they also didn't fancy an escort mission. They talked it over for a little but in the end decided to figure it out after the Festival. They are also intrigued about the lighthouse and the source of power within it.

Finally they paid Donnabella for her time, and she said she would be happy to travel with them again. Then they dragged the Spy back to Haylia. She was very very upset after the party told her what happened. She assured them that she had nothing to do with the ambush and that the spy would be punished and that they wouldn't have to worry about seeing him... ever again. It was rather ominous. She also mentioned that she was more annoyed at the loss of money from the whole thing and that working for her was lucrative and the option was still open for the Rogue.

The group headed back to the inn, and we ended the session there.

The post...

Everyone loves gourds, right?

This session felt a little flat to me. I think it was because we got started late. But also because the players decided to drag the spy around with them through the whole town as a kind of punishment. This added extra town material to the session that I wasn't planning on. I had assumed we would jump right to festival day.

The players had fun, but I felt like I was spinning my wheels. I just need to get over that kind of thing as a DM. If the players want to drag the annoying halfling prisoner all over town, let them do it. I admit there were some funny moments and comments from the locals that came of it. But I was itching to get to the festival events. I'm going to want to prep some handouts for the next session so they have things to reference about the festival. All this material is home-brew, and I see how much the group enjoys handouts and other physical props.

Up Next...

Session 17: The Night Before the Festival