Two weeks ago, I wrote a post intended to introduce new players to D&D. Last week, I posted a short introductory dungeon called Trials of the Mad Mage. This week, as the final part of this bizarre triptych, I will post an account of the time that I ran this adventure for a group of new players. Did it function as I had hoped? Did it get them excited about their characters and about the game? To find out ...read on.
I should note that the adventuring party consisted more than the four characters set out in the adventure as you see it on my blog: the fighter/ranger, the rogue, the sorcerer, and the cleric. There were instead:
The cleric - Idissa Halga. The cleric was played by my girlfriend, who had played in several other D&D campaigns but had never played a cleric. She decided to go for a North African theme, and really enjoyed playing a cleric.
The rogue - Rrrrr. A 12-year-old thief from the ice-fisher people of the north, and worshiper of the squirrel-god of thieves. She was basically a magpie, hoarder of shiny things.
The sorceress - Angaia. She said she pictured her character as sort of a pyromaniac, so I gave her predominantly fire spells.
The fighter/ranger - Dover Madbury. He was open to anything and wanted to play whatever character I made for him. He decided that his favoured enemy should be dragons without knowing that there was a dragon in this dungeon.
The ranger - Wulfric Nettlebrook. A swashbuckling adventuresome ranger who fights the good fight against oppression and tyranny.
The bard - Bob the Bard. He decided that he wanted to be the most painfully boring bard ever, so I gave him a selection of spells including sleep and oppressive boredom.
The barbarian - Suomi. An elderly barbarian who could still kick ass despite her advanced age.
I should also give you some idea of the make-up of the group. Aside from the cleric, all the players were of my parents' generation, and therefore able to remember a time before Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax created the modern RPG. Most of them had not been introduced to RPG concepts by various videogames, as many folks of my generation (myself included) have (although I think one of them may have mentioned playing Dungeon). A few of them remember playing, or at least seeing, D&D very briefly long ago. I know the barbarian and the fighter/ranger to be avid readers of fantasy, including A Song of Ice and Fire, and I know the ranger enjoys classic adventure novels and films like The Prisoner of Zenda and the Errol Flynn Robin Hood.
The night did not begin on schedule, which was probably the first thing I unwittingly taught my group: GMing requires a lot of preparation, and if the GM hasn't finished it, be prepared to wait. So while my girlfriend and I frantically rolled up four more 5th-level characters for the group to play (always be prepared, kiddos!), the rest of the group entertained themselves in the other room with talk and wine. I cannot stress enough how wonderful a little bit of alcohol can be at loosening up the inhibitions of people about to play D&D for the first time - as long as it is kept in moderation, so as not to destroy the focus and attention span of the group, it can really help people jump right in to this new experience.
Once I had finally gotten the group together, I explained the most basic concepts of the game and told them to create names and identities for their characters. They began in the starting inn, The Two Muddy Pigs, where their characters got to know each other. They talked to a few of the bar patrons, but did not seem interested in talking to Harl the stableboy, who had important information and a key quest object - the chunk of stone that says "From Grapes." Not wanting to bog down the already late-starting game with lots of aimless wandering, I improvised and had Harl come up to them. Note to self: do not rely on the PC's curiosity about random villagers to dispense plot points.
With new direction, the group headed off into the swamp. They soon came upon the lizardfolk cultists and their zombie minions, and the group got a quick introduction to combat. The cleric blasted several zombies by channeling divine energy, the sorceress turned the rogue invisible to let her sneak up on the lizard necromancer and backstab him, and the bard put several lizardmen to sleep with the most boring song in his repertoire. With a little goading and some helpful suggestions from their kind GM, the group was starting to work as a team.
After the battle, they had a good laugh over the "puzzle" at the dungeon entrance and made their way inside. Taking the bait in the answering-machine style message written in gold on the floor, they went into the room to the right to find Torgeg's mysterious package. The rogue, in true roguely fashion, attempted to steal from the chests in the room and was unpleasantly surprised when the treasure turned into a snake swarm (I briefly considered making it a venomous snake swarm, since they were - in theory - quite a powerful group, but decided against introducing the poison rules in order to save time). The pyromaniac sorceress gleefully dispatched the snakes with burning hands. The group found the enchanted cloak that disguises its wearer as a fully armoured knight, but unfortunately they did not have a chance to use it in the dungeon.
Oops, I accidentally got drunk with a bunch of my fellow medievalists! I guess I'll write the rest of this post under the influence of wine and Scotch...
So next the party encountered the illusory goblin and fell for all the right tricks. The sorceress ended up chasing the goblin into the pit and pocketed the ruby for herself. They followed the goblin and found the secret door to the next hallway. Next they found the door on the other side of the "bottomless pit" and spent a good twenty minutes trying to cross it. Eventually, the ranger fired an arrow across the gap into the opposite door. The arrow had a rope fastened to it, and one of them tried to shimmy across on the rope until the arrow broke and they fell onto the invisible bridge. Once they opened the opposite door and found that it led into the room that they had previously been in, they lost interest.
They investigated the door that led to a different environment every few seconds and eventually got the key out of the sunken treasure chest. Then they decided to go to the treasure room, where they met the sylph concubine who told them that they could take from that room only the first treasure that they touched. The bard, true to form, immediately touched the sylph, and received a kiss and a star sapphire in return. It was possibly the proudest moment in my GMing experience.
Once they opened Room I, where the floor was divided into four quarters and various statue breathed different elemental clouds into the room, the adventurers decided that it was getting too late and this room looked entirely too complicated. They had earned enough treasure and that they could safely leave the dungeon and retire rich and happy. Even though the party did not go though the colour room or fight through the final battle against the Big Bad Evil Guy, I was happy that the players had made it this far and decided - in character - that they had earned enough treasure and that it was time to retire. This group had reminded me of one important rule of GMing: that ultimately it is the players which are control of whatever adventure you choose to run them through.
So in the final analysis, the players did not run through the entire dungeon, but they really explored their characters in a way that I would not have expected from beginning players. I was consistently impressed with the new players and the way that they seized control of their characters. Even though they didn't finish the dungeon, they all had a good time and were really excited to play this game. I count that as a win.
-your introductory d20 despot
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