As I mentioned previously, this was the first time this particular group had played face to face. Indeed, although everyone knew some of the group, there were first time introductions for several members.
It was great to finally meet up. Some of the players had never seen each other before, but there was a very friendly atmosphere from the beginning.
The Adventure
I used the five room dungeon structure for the Crypt and I felt it worked very well. It was my first time consciously following this model, though I suspect I've included many of the elements in the past.
I'm not sure if Zarrel retreating to her crypt quite counted as the Reversal and I think the players were expecting to face a tougher final form. I'd have had her retreat to regenerate, but she never got the chance; the party can deal out a lot of damage now if they work together.
Also, we were getting close to six o'clock, the nominal finish time, and another big fight would probably have been rushed.
Harrow's desire to face the vampire while her Spectral Guardians was still in effect really drove the pace, which was excellent. In case you're wondering, yes, she did have another third level spell slot, but she's keeping it free for any required Revivify.
Looking back, I missed the chance for some monologue from Zarrel. She's got a back story that she could have referred to, but I'm sure there are hints to it elsewhere.
This is something I'm guilty of, not giving the opposition enough to say. I tend to get caught up in the tactics. To be fair, the party rushed in, spells blazing, and she wasn't around very long anyway.
Zarrel herself wasn't taken straight from the Monster Manual. That would have been too tough. Instead, I took the Knight stat block, boosted it slightly, and added features from the Vampire stat block that seemed to me to fit the story.
Non Scenery Prep
I prepared 5 x 3 index cards for every player's spells (they all have some spell casting ability now).
I also made magic item cards, class and race features cards and spell slot cards. I noticed that the spell slot cards weren't used, but everything else was.
All this needs something to hold it, and I found wooden boxes at The Works (a UK chain selling discount books, crafts and other sundries) that nicely hold the various cards, dice and a mini or two.
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| Harrow's box with just some of the cards |
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| Harrow shows there's plenty of room |
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| Roland's box with mini and cards |
The Deck of Discord
The adventure as written is based around the Deck of Many Things. I've no problem with this as background in the original, but I decided early on in the campaign to switch this for something else.
Partly because the 'find a card and get a minor extra power' is very fourth edition and doesn't transfer smoothly to fifth. Partly because it doesn't seem to quite match up to how I imagine the Deck to work.
There's also the fact that I lent my deck from the original adventure to someone many years ago and never got it back.
So I came up with the Deck of Discord. A very Chaotic artifact. It's purpose is to spread Chaos and change the behaviour of creatures. The powers are much more nebulous than the Deck of Many things, though the party have witnessed at least one instance of a card being used directly against them.
Roland has been gifted a platinum box by Bahamut, with instructions to shut the cards away. So far they've done this, and resisted any and all temptation to use them.
All this means that I needed a Deck.
There's plenty of options to buy or print off the internet, but I wanted something all my own.
I'd already sketched out some of the cards, or bone plaques as we are describing them. I'm aiming for a sort of 'Medieval' look in art style, though I admit, its very vague.
I even found another wooden box, again from The Works, but sadly my existing cards didn't fit in, so that meant redrawing them all again, this time sized to fit and on white Mounting Board so they have the right sort of thickness.
Sadly I didn't have time to paint the box silver, but I think the thing works as a prop. Perhaps too well: The players are keen to keep the plaques locked away, so other than a brief inspection, they never got examined all session!
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| The Deck of Discord |
Where Now?
The 'Heroes of Nentir Vale' will continue to adventure remotely; their quest to reclaim Gardemore Abbey is progressing nicely, though there are some factions that they still need to deal with (including a potential one that they are unaware of!).
It would be nice to direct them elsewhere; a couple of characters have backstory hooks that could lead east, and there's plenty to explore there, including another official adventure, though in this case I'd be borrowing background stuff than plot.
I'm certainly hoping for another live session, but not for a while perhaps. I'd like it to be another important goal, but I'm not sure what that's likely to be yet.
But, Minis?
You've seen the character minis, the skeletons and the zombies (which didn't get used, they were for an earlier version of the Garrison, but the Heroes have already done that area online), now here's Zarrel herself.
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| Zarrel Gardrinsdottir |
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| Zarrel again |
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| I wonder if any of that gear is worth anything? |
I didn't want to go for the standard Gothic lady vampire mini, this girl's a fighter, and should look like one. In fact I avoided undead minis altogether and used the Reaper Figure Finder for something elven looking.
Shardis, Female Elf Rogue (SKU 77741) was exactly what I wanted, and I already had the mini from one of the Reaper Bones Kickstarters in one of my boxes of unpainted minis.
I deliberately gave her very pale skin, VGC Elfic Flesh, and her clothing is based on VGC Jade Green, with dark green for the undertunic and yellow leggings.
So that's my random thoughts about a great fun gaming experience and the prep I did.
I'm busy getting the next online session ready, always working on the next one. I'm also getting something painted for my Old School orcs, which after working to a deadline for this is kind of relaxing.
