"Lost Mines of Phandelver" Finish - 2023 D&D Reboot - New Adventure "Dungeon of the Mad Mage" Awaits

And so .. surrounded by the "boss" monster of Phandelver (The Spider) the adventurers "rocked it" courtesy of the Party Leader Magic-User making his experience points up to 5th Level [big time adventures await] - and this figuring out how to use the dreaded Fireball Spell. Kaboom! The room of baddies (giant spiders, bugbears and The Spider himself) was consumed in magical fire [but the party leader was careful to protect his fellow PCs]. This also weakened the stability of dungeon foundations by destroying the dungeon protector - the magical Dwarf God idol [crumble, crumble .. RPG PC vandalism .. so magic is no longer holding the structure together]. With the dungeon collapsing around them in Indiana Jones fashion the party race to a new opening which seems to be "stable" (see below, the ending of The Spider NPC and his dreams of utilising "Fell Magic"):      

A bizarre sight awaits them, a chair on a chain harness, a bucket with a sign, "One at a time. A gold coin for the bucket man" and a long dark vertical chimney with a distance white pinprick of a light, with faint sounds of raucous revelry carrying down the chimney. One by one the adventurers ascend and teh party find themselves in the surreal surrounding of the Tavern of the Yawning Portal, an entrance point to the "Dungeon of the Mad Mage" and "Waterdeep"!

In 2023 the dungeon and dragons adventures restarts with a reboot from The Lost Mines of Phandelver. The PCs also carry the secret of the demonic presence they have released onto the unsuspecting denizens - who (thought they) have troubles enough of their own.

Dungeons and Dragons .. Spoiler alerts: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHtBB3TFfDo

Although in typical Dungeon Master fashion I reserve the right to add bespoke elements and levels in to suit my whim and figure collection (present and future)! In typical strange fashion I have also gone and ordered the prequel! Dragon Heist, describing the setting of the town of Waterdeep!

The Beholder

Sometimes all it takes is a little push, so when my eldest son said he needed a monster for his D&D club (an at school activity) to chase a bunch of newbies (giving them a head start at 5th Level) around a dungeon - he asked would I paint the Beholder that had been lurking primed and shaded on the shelf for over a year, it was enough of a prod (see below, the paint went from pot to brush to figure and before you know it, my mojo was back):  

Not someone or something I would want to meet any day down a dungeon! The Whizzkids model is much more animated and scary than the previous one I painted.

Personal D&D Highlight of the current Campaign: "Elven Magic User, do you remember the time when, ..."

Snuggly settled into a quiet corner of a tavern, the players reminisce together: "Elven Magic User, do you remember the time when, ..."

" ... You got scared after a Spectator hit you with a ray and you sprinted off down a random dungeon corridor screaming at the top of your voice until you were out of sight? And then, when we eventually found you, weren't you chained to a large rock, barely clothed, shivering in the middle of a cavern surrounded by [as yet] unanimated skeletons? 

We rescued you but you kindly forgot to tell us about, ... the fact that a Wraith had put you there as bait to lure the party into the cavern and he was coming to get us?" ... pause ...  "And, as the Wraith was 'getting us' you were totally without any magical powers of any sort to help us - being striped of spell books and ingredients for spells, by the clever Wraith. 

And ... if it wasn't for the fact that 'Beady' our lovable, but slightly murderous Gnome thief was secretly [as in unbeknownst to the rest of the party] possessed and under the malevolent power of an ancient, evil, intelligent artefact - which made Beady hand itself over [that is the evil artefact, aka a 'Mark of Chaos' - which everybody is now agreed as a "bad ass" thing for him to pick up in the first place and not tell us] to the Wraith which was then .. to our complete surprise .. was consumed by an unnatural red ball of energy that opened a dimensional portal, out from which stepped forth a Greater Demon spitting forth lightning and destruction - which we narrowly ducked, despite it bringing the roof of the cavern partially down?" 

Gasp of breath and sip of beer, then the Dwarf continued ...

"Which meant that, instead of being simple undead servants of the Wraith, we were alive but now responsible for releasing a terrible monster into the realm of men-elf-dwarf-gnome, the likes of which has never been seen in centuries and something we are desperately trying to hide from all the authorities, despite their persistent questioning?" 

Now that is a good tale for a long, dark, wintry, night in a tavern - providing it doesn't end up in a bar room brawl (see below, the scene in question from the adventure, proof that 'a fellow party character in need' [magic-user chained to a large rock] is definitely a pest of the highest order): 

Meanwhile back at the bar ...

"Yes?" said the Elf rather truculently, "I do kind Dwarf, I do remember the incident in question, but what of it?". "Well I only ask," said the Dwarf sipping his tankard of beer which was almost empty, "because I thought, isn't it your round at the bar?"

Old School Friends continue our D&D Dungeon Hack

Damn it, is it not a frustrating blast when those darn adventurers get their act together and bamboozle a clump of dangerous looking monsters (in this case a band of five Bugbears). By deft and cunning use of a magician's familiar, a Dragon Breath spell (see cotton wool below in the picture below) which as it came from a completely unexpected direction, "spooked" the monsters into stampeding into a well set up trap, aka killing zone (see below, as their "singed" [Bugbear] leader fell along side another Bugbear to the deft back-stabbing of the party's two thieves [the tiny Gnome thief dropping down from a point above the archway - a set-up that is becoming his trademark move], the "force morale" of the remaining three Bugbears crumbled [as per the three Bugbears exiting south at the bottom of the photograph]): 

Catching but a short breath the adventurers then moved onto the "next room" and came across another three Bugbears plus their Drow overseer. Two of the Bugbears and the Drow were distracted as they searching in a chasm for "something" (see the figures in the white 'chasm floor' area [top part] in the photograph below). Silence whispers and mutterings  - the PCs were up to something. Sure enough they had a "plan" very similar to their last escapade. However, the party's next assassination plan (meticulously worked out beforehand) came unstuck right at the start of its execution. The magician's familiar was this time spotted and "plucked" from the sky [by exactly "what" the party are not sure of], but at least the party's thieving duo still managed to take out the isolated Bugbear on guard duty up top, already dead as he toppled to the chasm below (see below, the party's killing spree continues, but now the enemy now know they are there):  

I am looking forward to the resolution to this Mexican stand-off in the next session.  

New D&D Friends for 2022

Courtesy of a shopping expedition in Edinburgh, several monsters were unboxed and are due to hit the Painting tray in 2022 (see below, a Rust Monster, Beholder and "somethings" called Cricks - never met the latter as a player but it is a snakelike thing with a pointy beak): 

Please don't take me as of face value, the kind of DM who just throws high level monsters at a low level party just because he has them in figures ;) 

I am much meaner than that!

Dungeon Hack - Cleaning up the Baddies Lair (Lost Mines of Phandelver)

I like old style D&D despite it being 5th Edition rules. My teenage son favours the computerised Roll D20 with its precision and its magic lighting, but I like pulling together whatever is on  hand and improvising, making a "mash" of it. I like the organic flock and pseudo chaos of that ensues. Here are few shots from early on in the adventure (the Lost Mine of Phaldelver" used in the 5th Edition Starter Campaign). You have my old 1980's 2D dungeon floor plans resurrected from the loft and old school miniatures of the same period plus a few newbies (see below, clearing out the "minor" baddies lair under the ruins of an old manor house a classic party "snaking its way" through the dungeon): 

The rugged cavern section is covered without major trauma, then the party finds a more structured (aka "square shaped") section of storerooms and are dutifully explored (see below, when there are a series of rooms to investigate it is always interesting [fun for the DM at least] to see "who" goes [or is nominated to go] first into the 'next room', a bit of reluctant "turn taking" is always FUN (karma inducing moments) - as in who's time is it for their luck to run out and spring a trap): 

An interesting find. Rinse and repeat. Steps leading down, especially when they are narrow (5' wide which means single abreast), which is always a "bad sign". The classic 10' by 10' cube awaits at the bottom with the classic choice of two doors (see below, "Wasn't this why we brought a thief along, to go first?" says the fighter to the magic-user):

Behind one of the doors .. is a guardroom (what else would you expect) garrisoned by drunken brigands who fight at disadvantage (see below, one sleep spell later and they are tied and bound up and ready to sing like canaries): 

The party advances to meet an important bad NPC (magic user) whom escapes .. with the expense of his beloved familiar -- which all adds rich narrative texture to the adventure which is good stuff! Don't worry they meet up with him later and he has a score to settle (he was attached to that rat [as in it was his "familiar"] the party killed)!

Note: If truth be told the adventure has passed far beyond this point, as I believe the pictures are over two years old (my posting to this blog has really slowed down). The characters have advanced in levels and explored the Sword Coast ;) 

The Dungeons and Dragons Figure Range: New Player Race

Since my time (officially known in the lore of Dungeons and Dragons as Second Edition .. not to be confused with a LOTR reference to Second Age) thinks have moved on. Not only do you have Humans, Dwarves, Eleves, Half-Elves, Halflings, Gnomes and even Half-Orcs - but strange and mysterious Dragonborn and Tiefling. Seeing as my sons campaign featured a player character who was a Dragonborn I decided to invest in some figures (see below, they come primed so I "washed" them in a Vallejo "sepia brown shade" (see below, they are classed as Dragonborn Paladins - male and female although to be honest can you tell me the difference?):

Painted up, the Black Dragonborn Male Paladin (see below, in all honesty I think the head looks a little ratty rather than dragon):

Painted up, the Red Dragonborn Female Paladin (see below, looking IMHO the more deadly and angry of the two): 

First impressions, they seem to be more 'fighting orientated' than cunning or stealth!

Learning from the way the Kids do it nowadays!

In the old days you read books, then read some more books, talked to others in the pub (well playground) about those books and probably the animated version of Lord of the Rings that never got completed, read some 2000AD comics and then went and picked a (too) hard monster from the Monster Manual and then threw in a couple dozen Orcs and the adventure began. Now there is all this crazy stuff like (see link below) that my kids watch and read!

https://www.dndbeyond.com

You will honestly spend more time reading and watching this stuff than actually playing it ... but it's cool. This old dog has started learning some cool new tricks. Most excellent! And yes, there are so many more sites I could have chosen! Boy am I envious!

Dungeons and Dragons Monster: Figure Conversion - "Nothic" from a "Carrion Crawler"

Necessity is often the "mother of invention" so when my return to RPG required a "new monster model" for the adventurers to gawp at, and a similar one kind-of existed (squint and you could see it) .. I picked up my paint brush and had a go to "transform" creature 'A' into creature 'B' (see below, a Nothic is a transmuted magic-user who like Icarus flew too close to the sun and got burned [deformed] badly - in particular he has a big bad eye ranged attack weapon. The model was a previously run of the mill "Carrion Crawler"):

Well I had plastic a "Carrion Crawler" spooned from a boxed game which looked hideous enough - so instead of letting it see through some 'slug stalks' I pained a large green eye in the middle of the creatures forehead. It works for me .. the only bad thing was that through an ingenious use of a light spell on its eye by a brave cleric - the thing was blinded and then killed by the party - although it nearly took the party's leader (a Magic-User) out. However, it did take the adventurers most of the night to overcome this foe, so that was a RPG result!

Dungeons and Dragons the Adventure Continues

The adventure picked up where we left off with the party's leader (a M-U) casting a spell on an Evil Mage (who also had a posse of Zombies in tow). The effects of the spell had yet to be determined. Rather than a yes or no, the affects of the spell had to be ascertained by the actions of the charmed character (aka the Evil Mage). Now a little bit of back history came into play here, as although charmed the PC was not sure if the spell had succeeded. I call this the player psyching himself out. Anyhow he "convinced" the Evil Mage to wander off after him (taking a third of the Zombies along with him) leaving the "two invisible thieves" and Folk Hero Fighter to take a look in his tent. With nine Zombies outside the PCs sneaked in and searched the tent. After what they thought was incredible success they started arguing over the spoils (a magic ring, a scroll, a potion and some coins/gem. Their noise activated the Zombies protection mode and suddenly the PCs had to contend with a Zombie invasion (see below, the Folk Hero Fighter makes a second door in the back of the tent and the Zombies chase after him, the thieves bu contrast are trying to make themselves inconspicuous):   

Meanwhile Radghast the Confused (my nickname for the PC Leader) is off trotting in the woodland [I made a roll for a wandering monster but no such luck] with Evil Mage (making friendly gesticulations that Radaghast thought was a spell) and Zombies following as best they could (see below):

The Folk Hero Fighter was tangling with a Zombie and found out that they could punch really hard .. ow 6 HPs of damage, so sticking around for a long fight was out of the question. The thieves however were trying to line themselves up for a "back-stab/assassination" [or so I thought] (see below, sometimes D&D drops down to minute movements - this was once such episode of long micro-seconds of suspense):

The Folk Hero fighter decided to swig the potion which looked similar to a Potion of Healing he already had (risky perhaps but he was a chancy sort of guy they sing songs about in taverns). Meanwhile the Halfling thief decide to assist with a spectacular Zombie killing action of pushing the large treasure chest into the rear of the Zombies causing a "domino collapsing line of Zombies". Well that is what would have happened on a 20, on an epic roll of 1 he stumbles and falls into the chest (he is a small guy that has overestimated his strength and capabilities) and the chest lid snaps shut on him for comic effect (see below, how much Hit Dice is a Treasure Chest monster again? - the Halfling PC figure has now been replaced by the Treasure Chest [one of my oldest and favourite figurines, it has served my friends and myself well over the years]):

Sensing no danger from the inside of the tent the Zombies amble after the life-form (Folk Hero Fighter) that is attacking them. The Dwarven thief passes up on another back-stab and lets the Zombies walk after the Folk Hero Fighter (who is making up verses to his own ballad at this point). For comic effect the Dwarven thief locks the Halfling in the chest for his own protection - until the last Zombie exits. Then picks the lock again - "I needed the practise" he says to the Halfling with a wink. Meanwhile, feeling slightly better after being restored to full (rude) health, the Folk Hero Fighter backs off and was leading the Zombies away Erol Flyn style from the thieves - having much better speed (see below, "The Folk Hero Fighter was luring seven of the nine Zombies away", verse two first stanza ..):

Once thirty feet away from the tent the Zombies stop pursing the Folk Hero Fighter. The now visible Halfling (he made an attack of sorts on the Zombies, albeit pathetic and still invisible Dwarven thief exit the back of the tent. The party reforms (minus the their wizard leader) and waits for him back with the mules and henchmen in  a slightly "Benny Hill" ending to this session. As the Evil Mage and PC Wizard come back after their 'circular walk' the Evil Mage is distraught and rushes to investigate his ruined camp. The PC leader exits stage right (before the Charm Spell wears off) to meet back up with the party back at their own camp. The return to the Base Town draws further rumours of intrigue at an underground cave complex (see below, the intrepid adventurers head off for further adventure - marching order please):

So end'eth the session in high spirits with sufficient xp's awarded for the Dwarven thief to progress up to Third Level.

I succumbed - 5th Edition D&D Players Handbook

After reading the Starter Set cover-to-cover does it come as a surprise to anyone I just 'had to' go and get the Players Handbook so I could roll up some PC's of my own or some interesting NPCs? I thought not (see below, colourful - nice artwork and entertainingly written, it has even got my son reading which in this electronic age is an achievement): 

Next Stop: The Dungeon Masters Guide, when I save up my pocket money that is!

The Lost Mines of Phalinder: 5th Edition D&D

The adventure rolls ever on. Rather than having scraps of paper stuffed into the back of books to be lost down the backs of sofas I kinda wrap everything up in a big roll of paper [£1 from the Pound Store or DIY Store]. That ways I can draw a map and move on chronologically, setting up little vignettes and scribbling things down. At the end of the night I just roll it up (see below, the lower portion of the map details the journey from NeverWinter - past the Goblin Ambush [spoiler alert] and arriving in Phandolin):

The adventures approach the camp-site of an Evil Mage and "bump" into his 'zombie bodyguards". Negotiations (assisted with a PC Charm Spell cast on the Evil Mage) are about to begin (see below, the four adventurers are approaching B, E, S, W which means three zombies each + the spell caster, all depends on an important saving throw):

The "New Guard" (my eldest son and one of his friends) of players were introduced to the "Old Guard" - my old school friends who last played D&D under AD&D First Edition, back in the 1980's. Boy that makes me feel old. The Old Guard were more than prepared or willing for the Young Guard to earn their spurs - as in do all the dangerous stuff ;)

Letting the youngest DM .. and me being Solo Adventurer!

Having walked the kids through their first D&D adventure I could see the sparkle stay in my youngest's eyes (he's only seven). He so wanted to "play with the toys" I had to let him become the storyteller (DM) and you know what, I think that bright young mind did it far better job than me. I was placed in the precarious situation of being a solo "dungeoneering". "This won't last long" I thought to myself, first monster and he will choose the biggest one in the box (probably the Umber Hulk ... a miniature that has never yet been killed in one of my D&D games)! So there I was walking across the stony floor of a chamber and it was announced that I had encountered a trap. Ooops.  One (failed) skill test later and I was left imprisoned by a falling cage (in true comic book fashion). That was it I thought .. monster meat! However with a benevolent sense of imagination, the monster that appeared was a small mushroom man that befriended me. He (it?) said that it would help me escape as it knew where the special key was for the cage! I then played the mushroom man getting the key from a locked chest. Ingenious. He (or was it, it?) set me free and my new BBF and I explored the next room (see below, we are sneaking around in the background trying not to be seen by a Big Blue Monster and two young hatch-ling Dragons [Red and Blue]):

One unremitting axiom of dungeoneering is that where you find treasure chests you find big ugly monsters. In this case a green one that came from a very old Warhammer starter pack. I didn't manage to catch his name as he bludgeoned me into the ground (three rounds of combat which I all lost) as I was distracted open treasure chest withe the allure of gold inside it (see below, I was left unconscious as my new BBF did a very good "hide in the shadows" which is perhaps what I should have done):

Luckily my mushroom BBF was on the ball to once again come to my rescue. It(?) sneaked away and opened a chest where he knew there was a secret healing potion in that resuscitated me (see below, my seven year old was definitely out dungeoneering me hands down):

Once I was back on my feet Mr Mushroom introduced me to Miss Mushroom (pink hat, I get it) his girlfriend(?) who would help me from here "as it was too dangerous for him to go on". Not only narrative but he ingested the sense of peril into the storytelling. I was impressed (see below):

There we had to leave it until another time. My only chance of survival is to "follow the mushroom" to find a way to safety. I think my youngest is a bit of a groovy hippy at heart ;)

Dungeon Delve with the Dungeons and Dragons Board Game

It's the classic tale. Two adventurers and a DM. Limited resources, one character each, pretty much their first dungeon delve and a whole load of mysterious experiences for these youngsters to come, my two sons. Bravely they lit their torches and pursued the band of Goblins who had captured the local village sheriff . Opening their first dungeon door (I wonder if they will remember this defining event thirty years hence), they surprised the distracted Goblin guard, wounded him and then watched him run off down the corridor to try and alert his friends (same old story at least guard always gets away to warn the others). Fearlessly they decided to push on (see below):

The guard ran to find his friends and this group of three Goblins turned to face the adventurers outnumbering them 3:2. This bravery turned out to be pure folly as the dwarven-magic-user (interesting) and human fighter's ranged bow felled two breaking the Goblin's brittle morale. Were these the serious monsters who overwhelmed the local village. Searching around the two adventurers found a wealth of magical treasure locked in checks (obviously the Goblins were packing up lot ready to move off). With a new found magic sword in hand, two potions of healing and a strange magic scroll (watch this space) the lucky duo passed into the final hall of the adventure. Deftly avoiding some nasty pit-traps (thanks to the dexterity of the fighter-their) they pinned the remaining five Goblins (four normal and the big sub-leaser) into their lair - but no sign of the "sheriff" (see below):

Here the novice dungeon delvers learned first hand of the power of a "sleep" spell. Four out of five of the Goblins were subdued and the fifth slain by the fighter. The remaining four never "woke-up" (the ethical consideration of this I am still pondering as a father .. but they were evil .. perhaps I should have hinted they could have been "tied-up" as prisoners). The adventure part one is over. As the adventurers sift through the treasure chests "lo and behold" they discover a map to where the "sheriff" is being held. This small band of Goblins were but a mere scouting party for something more bigger and sinister!

A Golden Rule: Never look back ... or you'll end up buying the 5th Edition D&D Started Pack

OK, so it started out as a casual conversation between work colleagues and led two weeks later to an impulsive "I know I was going to do it sometime so it might as well be now" moment (see below):

The upshot of it all is that D&D seems to have moved on a lot since my pubescent, hormonal 2nd Edition days (circa 1982 to 1986). The game system seems to emphasis play-ability (to which I think of as back to the "Old Blue" Basic Dungeons and Dragons book) and less on chart heavy play, but very positive in stream-lining (aka guiding) what the players can/could do (aka action types and attribute checks when the players are being "hard of thinking" or "doing something generic" outside of specif actions covered exhaustively in the rules).

All-in-all it has "beer and pretzel" written all over it, with a happy smile. I don't think I will be forking out well over "£100" for the "big set of pretty books" though, but adapt stuff from the "starter set" back into 2nd Edition (famous last words).

Note (see above): An unmade hotel bed and a freshly opened (I can still smell that clean, clear plastic wrapping film) box of 5th Edition D&D "Starter Set", can you think of anything more 'sexy nerdy'? Lenard Cohen "Chelsea Hotel" it is not ;)