Lights Out: My First Night as a 4e DM
Gavin O’Brien took over as DM of the regular Robot Viking D&D group this week, his first stint in the 4e DM’s chair. He helpfully explains what it was like to take his former companions for a spin on the Wheel of Pain.
I DMed my first ever game of 4e D&D Monday night, and also the first adventure I have ever created myself. This adventure, as the players knew beforehand, takes place primarily in that wonderful land of lollipops and laceration: the Underdark–“We’re all out of ‘pops.” The thing is, while most of the players knew their destination once Ed handed over the reigns, none of the characters did. It was awfully kind of them not to meta-game and pack ANY items useful in a subterranean setting. You know, items like rope. Or torches. I’m surprised they even brought food (You guys brought food, right?). Troian wins the “most prepared” merit badge for sure. A lot of good it did them.
Now, why did I kill my party on the very first encounter of the very first night? Was I trying to set myself up as an adversarial DM? Do I really prefer to spend the night creating new characters instead of playing? No and no.
I did it so they could meet Torog face to face in a way that wouldn’t drive their characters absolutely mad. I also did it to show that the Underdark is a very dangerous place, and being without a source of light is a severe handicap because almost everything can see just fine down there. Ok, maybe just a little adversarial.
The Cringe, exarch of Torog, (played by Goristro on the battle map) led a motley group of ambushers in a small Underdark chamber against a band of blind and confused heroes. The Cringe’s merry men included 4 Jagged Wrackspawn, a modified Drow Noble and his captive weakened Beholder Death Tyrant, 3 modified Tanarukk Flame Speakers, and a modified Oblivion Wraith. The encounter was only 21st level. The party of 6 was only 15th level though. And in the dark. And suffering from a Vertigo-inducing flush down an interdimensional toilet. I don’t remember the exact number of rounds, but I think it was less 5 before the entire party succumbed. Congrats to Ryk on outlasting the rest of the group by about 3 rounds.
No worries though.
You see, even I would never stack the odds against players so severely as to kill them all with no chance of getting away unless they were asking for it. I would much rather kill the entire party in a fair fight. Ryk suggested I pass a note to each character before their first death save. It was a good idea, and one that I used. The note stated that they were not dead, but instead experiencing a vision.
The characters had a very real vision where they met Torog in one of his infamous torture dens. The King that Crawls informed them that he required their aid in rescuing his servant (my long retired Deva Invoker/Wizard/Cleric character), Samel, who some of the party actually knew and who is actually Ryk’s character’s brother. Samel has been captured by the Incunabulum, undead knowledge thieves who seek to forcibly extract Samel’s Deva memories and render him a lifeless zombie husk. Since Samel is a good dude who never hurt anyone (despite his bond to a god of torture), obviously the players want to help. Right? Right? Guys?
Well, they didn’t say no, so they awoke back in the chamber where they “died.” Luckily, the ambushers had left and were replaced by Samel’s familiar, an imp named Samel (long story). He’s there to guide them through the Underdark and provide tips and insight even if it isn’t asked for or needed. Essentially, he pointed to the hole in the floor that was the way out and ignored the party while they worked out a way to climb down a 60 foot drop with 50 feet of rope and nothing to which they could tie it.
That worked about as well as planned and they were immediately forced to face some more monsters that benefited from my tweaking. First were 10 Strahd’s Dread Zombies renamed to Bloodplagued Dread Zombies due to their companions, 2 Adolescent Blood Oozes (weakened, shrunken and leveled up Blood Oozes).
This is where I learned a pretty important DMing lesson. I had designed this encounter run swiftly once the party figured out the zombies, despite being minions, would keep coming back unless they were hit with fire or radiant. However, once the party started using fire, I made the mistake of checking the wall of text which was my notes. I skipped over the word “fire” in my quick rereading and ended up having the zombies last a lot longer than they should have. It didn’t make the encounter that much more challenging, but I felt pretty stupid once I realized my mistake.
The lesson? Go with your gut. You prepared the encounter. You built it this way for a reason. If fire feels right, then go with it.
Highlight of the night: It centers around the critical fumble deck of course. Ed was so excited about that new sword from the Dark Sun book. Well, at least he has the residuum from when it disintegrated in his hands. That even topped Ryk’s critical fumble that ended up with him unconscious for 4 rounds while zombies and oozes moved in on his allies.
All in all, I think it went well. I’m still not 100% comfortable, but that will come with experience. The guys can feel free to chime in with their opinions and thoughts. I won’t hold it against them or their characters.
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August 19th, 2010 3:51 PM
Goristro looks a lot more intimidating from that angle.
August 19th, 2010 4:41 PM
One thing I have found with DM-ing 4th ed, there is almost ALWAYS one little key thing you forget about one of your critters, or some tactic that would have worked REALLY well, and it falls by the wayside… like forgetting that zombies stand up after they’ve been laid down once, or forgetting to have your goblins shift for free when they are missed in Melee.
I have to remind myself after the fact that its about the game, not the rules… so long as people had a good time, forgetting “fire” is really not a bit deal.
August 19th, 2010 4:47 PM
If I had a nickel for every time an elite or solo died with an unused action point…
August 19th, 2010 5:11 PM
I probably should have just said nothing and went with it. Though, that makes those zombies a lot more of a pain in the ass since Ryk is the only character with Radiant now that my sorcerer is gone. I probably would have awarded bonus xp if someone had grabbed the radiant hammer from him while he was unconscious and started beating zombies with it.
That’s part of a lot of new characters learning to work together though, I guess.
August 19th, 2010 5:54 PM
One thing I’ve learned is that it really helps to memorize what tactics you plan on using ofr the fights, because as ou’re planning you’ll see all these different things, then build terrain to fit that, then see what happens.
August 19th, 2010 7:29 PM
Welcome to the brotherhood. I’ve had similar mis-haps with missing a key weakness, but even more missing a key POWER. One of my most terrifying memories is of playing Earthdawn, getting our asses handed to us & then hearing the DM say “Oh, look, they get TWO attacks per round!”
August 19th, 2010 7:39 PM
Mordicai, what do you think of Earthdawn? There’s an old beat up copy at my local bookstore that I might pick up as a museum piece if nothing else.
August 20th, 2010 11:02 AM
I kind of adore Earthdawn, & it is worth picking up as a museum piece at the least. The rules are crazy, but interesting– the defenses in particular stick with me. Physical, Magical, Social. That is– maybe your Full Plate protects you best from Physical attacks, but the priest’s Holy Vestments protects him best from Magical attacks & the nobles elaborate Fancy Clothes protect him from Social attacks.
Besides that, the story of the game is good. Yeah– I have fond memories; we played the hell out of the published adventures in Junior & Senior High. My T’Skrang Swordsmaster was great.
August 20th, 2010 9:42 PM
Ok, I’ll pick it up tomorrow if it’s still there.
August 21st, 2010 12:32 PM
I guess my Boy Scout training finally paid off. Not only did I have rope and sunrods, but I also have rations. I’ll accept that most prepared award. It was definitely an interesting way to end one campaign, and begin another. It’s not often you get to talk to a deity; particularly while sitting in a cushy chair.
The critical fail box really was getting a LOT of usage that night. I think both you and Ed used it three times, Ryk and Ryan maybe two or so times each, and I know I used it once. That’s a whole lot of fail packed into one session. As for your missing of the fire on the zombies thing, I didn’t mind it so much. Yes it was a mishap, but it added a sense of, “Oh shit!” to the proceedings without completely destroying us. It got me in the mindset that the Underdark is dangerous even when not facing things like The Cringe.
I already like the way the campaign is headed, and it’s giving me ideas for Troian’s story, and motivation down the road. It even fits in with the epic destiny I’ve been considering. Hell, it gives me a roundabout way to explain the latest daily power I chose upon hitting lvl. 15 (Even though that isn’t necessary, it makes me smile a bit.)
I also like that when you google, “the cringe d&d,” this article is the sixth result. I was looking for a picture.
August 26th, 2010 8:05 PM
Sorry for not responding sooner, but I appreciate your comments, Eric.
If there’s anything you want to discuss with me about Troian, feel free to do so. I’d be glad to advance the story of Troian if I can. That goes for anyone. The Underdark is a massive place.
I couldn’t find any pictures of the Cringe, so I figured Goristro was close enough. Robot Viking is also now the 1st site that comes up if you search for “the cringe D&D” on google.
If Viking readers care, here’s the diverse group that is searching for Samel in the Underdark:
Zuriel (played by Robot Viking’s own Ryk Perry), the Deva Paladin|Cleric, brother to Samel
Sevash (played by Ed himself), the Drow Barbarian, uniter of tribes
Olivia, the Human Wizard, aka “Dragonslayer” as my most recent character referred to her.
Og (the internet’s Joe Grabianowski), the one-eyed Half-Orc Fighter
Zero, the mysterious Dragonborn Assassin.
Troian (Megido/Eric, he who comments on posts ’round these parts), the Tiefling Warlock, who spent some time as the sex toy of a goddess.
Sevash, Olivia and Troian have all traveled with Samel at times. Zuriel is his brother. The rest has no clue who he is, but they have their own reasons for joining.