First DM Session
Mar. 9th, 2009 10:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
weirdlet*grins*
So yesterday I ran my first D&D session as game-master. It worked out pretty well- *I* had fun, and most of the players assured me it was a hell of a lot of fun for them. There was one guy who was just kind of hanging back because he said it wouldn't be in character to fight or do anything, and the monk hung back because he said he was having enough fun watching the other guys. I'll try and work on making sure everybody gets their chance to shine next time, but they were given opportunities to do stuff and chose to remain outside.
That was so freakin' cool anyways.
Premise- you're all the daughters of a Conan-esque king. He's got many children but no sons. And there's been a lot of bitching about the inheritance problem, so finally, he says anyone of his blood who wants a shot at the throne show up in the courtyard, he has a test for them. It turns out to be an armed escort to the edge of the kingdom and the ultimatum that he will see them again as heroes worthy of guest-right, or as conquerors at the gate.
First thing on the menu was survival- I didn't even have to really push the idea of them going hunting for horses, they did that on their own and I just told them that was the closest herd. They went for taming horses, while the wizard and monk set up camp, and had gotten two already. It got real exciting when the barbarian girl went for the stallion, who fought like hell. Then the wizard finally shows up and pops a sleep spell on the horse- only to have it fall on Freya, the barbarian (this may have been why later, s/he didn't want to play). Still, they managed, and then got a nice dinner going. They settled in, talked about their need to stick together, and set up watches.
Two or three days later, one of'em catches sight of a caravan moving at night. It turns out to be a tribute to their father from the Ironsand regions, guarded by men from the very farthest newest regions of Hiberia (the dwarves aren't conquered, their above-ground land is sandy waste, but they recognize opportunity when they see it). The girls surprise me- they try the diplomatic route first, which forced me to come up with some personalities on the fly. They confused the hell out of the guard captain, who told his day-sleeping employers and got his rank transfered to someone else for his troubles (girls appearing out of nowhere and claiming important bloodlines? Go pour out your flask!).
But eventually they come back, and make their demands much more known in broad daylight, which forces the new captain to go to his employers, two dwarven wizards, and they come out and do the talking (fortunately, one of the girls knows dwarvish, and eventually, one of the dwarves gotten up knows Hiberian). They get a tour of the merchandise after establishing their credentials- it's dwarven steel weapons, a gift for the king. Some of them have the seal of the house, others are just decorative. All masterwork, some might even be +1. They loot a great deal of this, and then accidentally wake up the topiary boar that was under a tarp.
The boar goes berserk. It starts rocketing around, squealing and rustling its branches, and people keep trying to pin it with spears and they are mutually ineffective, which gives the PCs opportunity to try and pull this off/get some combat.
Map of Hiberia and world so far-
So yesterday I ran my first D&D session as game-master. It worked out pretty well- *I* had fun, and most of the players assured me it was a hell of a lot of fun for them. There was one guy who was just kind of hanging back because he said it wouldn't be in character to fight or do anything, and the monk hung back because he said he was having enough fun watching the other guys. I'll try and work on making sure everybody gets their chance to shine next time, but they were given opportunities to do stuff and chose to remain outside.
That was so freakin' cool anyways.
Premise- you're all the daughters of a Conan-esque king. He's got many children but no sons. And there's been a lot of bitching about the inheritance problem, so finally, he says anyone of his blood who wants a shot at the throne show up in the courtyard, he has a test for them. It turns out to be an armed escort to the edge of the kingdom and the ultimatum that he will see them again as heroes worthy of guest-right, or as conquerors at the gate.
First thing on the menu was survival- I didn't even have to really push the idea of them going hunting for horses, they did that on their own and I just told them that was the closest herd. They went for taming horses, while the wizard and monk set up camp, and had gotten two already. It got real exciting when the barbarian girl went for the stallion, who fought like hell. Then the wizard finally shows up and pops a sleep spell on the horse- only to have it fall on Freya, the barbarian (this may have been why later, s/he didn't want to play). Still, they managed, and then got a nice dinner going. They settled in, talked about their need to stick together, and set up watches.
Two or three days later, one of'em catches sight of a caravan moving at night. It turns out to be a tribute to their father from the Ironsand regions, guarded by men from the very farthest newest regions of Hiberia (the dwarves aren't conquered, their above-ground land is sandy waste, but they recognize opportunity when they see it). The girls surprise me- they try the diplomatic route first, which forced me to come up with some personalities on the fly. They confused the hell out of the guard captain, who told his day-sleeping employers and got his rank transfered to someone else for his troubles (girls appearing out of nowhere and claiming important bloodlines? Go pour out your flask!).
But eventually they come back, and make their demands much more known in broad daylight, which forces the new captain to go to his employers, two dwarven wizards, and they come out and do the talking (fortunately, one of the girls knows dwarvish, and eventually, one of the dwarves gotten up knows Hiberian). They get a tour of the merchandise after establishing their credentials- it's dwarven steel weapons, a gift for the king. Some of them have the seal of the house, others are just decorative. All masterwork, some might even be +1. They loot a great deal of this, and then accidentally wake up the topiary boar that was under a tarp.
The boar goes berserk. It starts rocketing around, squealing and rustling its branches, and people keep trying to pin it with spears and they are mutually ineffective, which gives the PCs opportunity to try and pull this off/get some combat.
The boar manages to get set on fire from flame arrows. It starts setting the two tents on fire (they were set up around the two wagons). People are still trying to catch it. The wizards try to defend their stock and put the boar out with rays of frost. The rogue sneaks into the other tent, while the former captain is in their checking things out. They manage to meet in the wagon, whereon he shouts "Theif!!" and *finally* prompts the barbarian to action, who leaps in to intimidate the hell out of the captain. The one dwarf wizard steps in as well, attempts to solve this by dropping a web on those involved- manages to only web the captain- and gets leapt at and intimidated as well. The battle-sorceress, who was the one trying to be all diplomatic at first, also steps into the tent after giving it another little dose of fire from her torch, in time to hear the dwarf say "Take what you want- and *go*!"
Which they do. One gal- Marcus, playing the tiefling rogue who's got the 'your mother was a palace concubine, this is the only life you've known' background card, also snatched up the be-webbed former captain, I'm going to have to figure out how that'll work.
And that's where I ended things, but now they've got *plans* and they demand a campaign^^ So, I guess that's it. Not sure how I'll handle that whole 'set up a school and an army for women and try to convince Daddy it's in his best interest to hand over the kingdom by organizing a Lysistrata scenario' thing, but in the meanwhile, they've got tombs to fall into, raids to plan (and evade!) and some very nice loot that I'll have to look into and make up.
Which they do. One gal- Marcus, playing the tiefling rogue who's got the 'your mother was a palace concubine, this is the only life you've known' background card, also snatched up the be-webbed former captain, I'm going to have to figure out how that'll work.
And that's where I ended things, but now they've got *plans* and they demand a campaign^^ So, I guess that's it. Not sure how I'll handle that whole 'set up a school and an army for women and try to convince Daddy it's in his best interest to hand over the kingdom by organizing a Lysistrata scenario' thing, but in the meanwhile, they've got tombs to fall into, raids to plan (and evade!) and some very nice loot that I'll have to look into and make up.
Map of Hiberia and world so far-
