Tales from the Tabletop

All off topic conversation held here. Have fun and play nice. =)

Moderators: Bookworm, starkruzr, MrFireDragon, PrettyPrincess, Wapsi

Post Reply
Alkarii
Posts: 1854
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2014 3:02 pm

Tales from the Tabletop

Post by Alkarii »

Since apparently I'm not the only one who plays tabletop games, I guess there's plenty stories to share, so instead of letting good stories get buried in More Stuff, we can just drop some stories of silly happenings here.

As I've been on vacation all week, my group has been playing almost every night, and since we're all a bunch of noobs, goofy things happen, often without any planning.

Case in point: we're playing through a beefed up version of the Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure (found in the Essentials Kit; beefed up because it's a continuation of the learning campaign we started with The Lost Mine of Phandelver, from the old Starter Kit). We had to check on a ranch to see if the owner is still alive.

The ranch had been raided by orcs (3 per player character, and we have a party of 7 characters), and my oldest niece decided that she would try to sneak into the front door, and we decided to do a spec ops style raid on the place. After a Nat 20 stealth check and several characters getting higher than 20 on initiative rolls, we start wrecking faces in a surprise round, and at one point, my sorceress uses a spell called Rime's Binding Ice, which is a 30ft cone of cold, and requires a dex save.

On a fail, targets take 3d8 of cold damage and get trapped in ice (action to break; no movement until it breaks or enough time passes), and half damage and no ice trap on success... All four enemies in the area of effect made the save, and I rolled a 2, a 2, and a 3...

Naturally, I wasn't happy to hear about all the saves, and those low rolls didn't help my mood... Until my brother (who is DM for this part of our first campaign) informed me that three of the orcs died from the attack.

Thankfully, most of the parties are almost to 6th level, so if we do encounter the young white dragon that can apparently show up at any place we visit.
There is no such thing as a science experiment gone wrong.
User avatar
Dragonaur
Posts: 59
Joined: Mon Jul 29, 2013 7:40 pm

Re: Tales from the Tabletop

Post by Dragonaur »

When I was in school. I had a bunch of friends who played a lot. I never reached critical mass. So do you pick a player type out of standard roles?
Alkarii
Posts: 1854
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2014 3:02 pm

Re: Tales from the Tabletop

Post by Alkarii »

I haven't really picked a particular style. Right now, I'm running two characters (because originally it was my brother and his wife, with me as DM), a paladin and a sorcerer, both dragonborn (bronze and copper, respectively). When we get in combat, I tend to be aggressive with both, with the sorcerer twin casting cantrips or using Ashardalon's Stride/Rime's Binding Ice (dragon magic from Fizban's Treasury of Dragons), and the paladin does paladin stuff. High AC (armor and shield) and strength, and both characters have the Gift of the Metallic Dragon feature, also found in Fizban's Treasury. It allows them to boost their AC by a little bit a few times a day. Also, once a day, they can both use an alternate breath weapon (1/day) that either push enemies or incapacitate them for a little while.
There is no such thing as a science experiment gone wrong.
FreeFlier
Posts: 2492
Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2015 11:33 pm
Location: Land of the webbed feet

Re: Tales from the Tabletop

Post by FreeFlier »

Many years ago (2nd edition, IIRC) I was in a campaign where the DM was trying to kill one of the characters without killing the others,and without resorting to "Rock falls, Character dies" . . . and finally managed it.

Naturally the rest of the party had the character resurrected, since he was the heavy hitter, and lucky besides . . .

--FreeFlier
Last edited by FreeFlier on Sat May 06, 2023 9:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Alkarii
Posts: 1854
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2014 3:02 pm

Re: Tales from the Tabletop

Post by Alkarii »

Not sure if I've mentioned this before in More Stuff, but my brother, his wife, and I have discussed some ideas for a homebrew setting we could use for future campaigns, and I'm getting pretty stoked to actually write a campaign for it.

The basic idea is that there are several worlds that are linked together via this massive portals. The worlds themselves are all really similar, in terms of geology, ecosphere, etc, but the crazy part is that each world is in a separate multiverse. One is that of the D&D multiverse, in that you have the prime material plane, feywild, Nine Hells, and all that jazz, and another would have one of the planes from the Blind Eternities (that's the name of the multiverse from Magic: The Gathering). However, I also have two others planned, and each multiverse would have it's own pantheons.

One would have some hyperdimensional eldritch entities for gods, and the parts of them that pass through our 3D space would look pretty crazy... Look up "Biblically accurate angels", especially the ophanim, and you'll get the vibe.

The other one would have a pantheon that would seem to have a pagan feel to it. There would be a supreme deity at the top, and then various concepts and forces personified would be sort of spiritual intermediaries that might appear from time to time and interact with the mortal plane. I even intend to have them interact with that world's version of the Grim Reaper, which in this case is a black, raven-like bird whose presence creates some really surreal effects, both in the physical plane and in the spiritual plane(s?). One weird effect I think would be cool is that his size and distance from the viewer would be impossible to determine, as they would both seem to be in flux. Is he really big, but far away, or is he small and right in front of you?

I also got a couple of other ideas, but they aren't fully formed just yet. Just, like... Some sort of entity that is like a bunch of clockwork? I dunno what to do with that.
There is no such thing as a science experiment gone wrong.
FreeFlier
Posts: 2492
Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2015 11:33 pm
Location: Land of the webbed feet

Re: Tales from the Tabletop

Post by FreeFlier »

Sounds sort of like the Multiverse/Hell's Gate series by David Weber and Linda Evans . . .

--FreeFlier
Alkarii
Posts: 1854
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2014 3:02 pm

Re: Tales from the Tabletop

Post by Alkarii »

FreeFlier wrote: Sat Apr 29, 2023 1:47 am Sounds sort of like the Multiverse/Hell's Gate series by David Weber and Linda Evans . . .

--FreeFlier
The funny thing is that I had a very similar idea for a fantasy setting I wanted to use on a roleplay/writing forum I used to frequent, except it would be one world made of several pieces of others. A short time after I had that idea, I ended up reading Hell's Gate. I had also stumbled across info that apparently in D&D, it's possible for players to encounter magic portals to other worlds, though supposedly they were always within the same multiverse, i.e. the Astral Sea or Blind Eternities. I was thinking about calling this sort of situation an omniverse... Which kinda sounds like something from an old comic book.

What makes it a little more interesting is that there are a few official D&D books that are 5e settings based in different worlds of the Magic: the Gathering multiverse. As far as I know, there's three so far, and I've got all three. There's Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica (in which the entire world is one big city), Mythic Oddysseys of Theros (which is heavily inspired and themed on Greco-Roman mythology), and Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos. I haven't really read that one much, but it seems to heavily feature a school of magic.

In official M:tG canon, there's a massive magical artifact currently on (but not originating from) the plane of Ravnica called the Planar Bridge. It can be used to connect different planes within the Blind Eternities, so if there's a gateway that connects to any world of that multiverse from a world of a different multiverse, then that bridge could be used to allow travel to a lot more places. I was thinking my group could actually wind up in Ravnica's undercity by way of a recently discovered portal that they'd been asked to explore.
There is no such thing as a science experiment gone wrong.
FreeFlier
Posts: 2492
Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2015 11:33 pm
Location: Land of the webbed feet

Re: Tales from the Tabletop

Post by FreeFlier »

I like the Weber/Evans description of the gates . . . especially the way that trains can enter the gate in opposite directions on the same track . . .

--FreeFlier
Alkarii
Posts: 1854
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2014 3:02 pm

Re: Tales from the Tabletop

Post by Alkarii »

Yeah, I was thinking of doing the same, except these portals would actually have a structure containing them. Not so sure I want to bother with their origin or the reason for their construction, and just leave it as a "who knows" sort of thing. Ask the gods of the different worlds, and they'll just shrug and be like "Iunno."

Saturday night's session got interrupted right after we started an encounter against an ogre warband. I had picked up the set of painted minis that day; four orges, two of which are female, and one of the males has a platform on his back/shoulders where a pair of small goblin figures that came with the set can stand.

My paladin went first, and then my sister in law had to go to the ER because she was having an adverse reaction to her meds, so we picked up the fight the next night.

One round started with me using Searing Smite with my enchanted sword, then getting a nat 20 on the hit (making the attack do 2d8+4d6+6), which surprisingly didn't kill the ogre in question, but my extra attack finished the job. Later that round, my sorcerer used my favorite a.o.e. spell, Rime's Binding Ice, l managed to kill one of the goblins (having killed the other with my sorcerer on the previous round)...

Then came my niece's two characters. I don't remember which one went first, but her moon elf sorcerer used Scorching Ray, and got a Nat 20 on one of the rays... And her barbarian got a Nat 20 with a greataxe, and she got the maximum roll on it, too.

In fact, in that encounter, I think everyone rolled a Nat 20 at least once.

I guess you could say we D & Did It.
There is no such thing as a science experiment gone wrong.
FreeFlier
Posts: 2492
Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2015 11:33 pm
Location: Land of the webbed feet

Re: Tales from the Tabletop

Post by FreeFlier »

I knew someone who killed a huge ancient red dragon in a single attack . . . with a thrown dagger . . .

He'd just had first round of attack and did decent damage . . . the dragon nailed the character good, so the character is down to one hit point and the dragon is inhaling to breathe again . . . so he threw the dagger as a final act of defiance.

And got a kill result. IIRC it was in Rolemaster.

--FreeFlier
Last edited by FreeFlier on Mon Jul 03, 2023 11:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Dave
Posts: 7584
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 5:58 pm
Location: Mountain View, CA, USA

Re: Tales from the Tabletop

Post by Dave »

Well, that's what comes of picking up a +20 Dagger Of Rotisserie Skewering at a yard sale.
FreeFlier
Posts: 2492
Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2015 11:33 pm
Location: Land of the webbed feet

Re: Tales from the Tabletop

Post by FreeFlier »

That's what comes of rolling open-ended high . . .

This was the same player that once rolled a 496 on a camouflage roll . . . where I told him to roll a spot check, intending to roll something, grunt and tell him he didn't see anything . . . then he rolled a natural 496.

--FreeFlier
Alkarii
Posts: 1854
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2014 3:02 pm

Re: Tales from the Tabletop

Post by Alkarii »

Not much of a big story this time, but we were fighting a bunch of owlbears (because we haven't properly adjusted the random encounters for our party just yet), and my brother decided to cast Guiding Bolt at 3rd level (6d6 radiant damage, next attack roll against it has advantage), and he's been having a terrible rolling streak lately. So, naturally, while he's rolling, I say "Nat 20! Nat 20!"

He got a Natural 20, and we decided at the beginning of our campaign that you can get a critical hit with magic if it's a magic attack (as in, you have to roll a d20 to hit), which bumped it up to a total of 12d6.

And then the owlbear that got hit was up next, attacked the cleric, and got a Nat 20.

I'm also going to try painting the Shambling Mound mini my brother and his wife gave me for Christmas. I haven't painted a lot of minis, but I think I can make this one look good.
There is no such thing as a science experiment gone wrong.
Alkarii
Posts: 1854
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2014 3:02 pm

Re: Tales from the Tabletop

Post by Alkarii »

Welp... One of my characters wound up petrified. And in D&D 5e, it's actually easier to come back from the dead than being petrified.

I'm definitely not happy about it, even though we had all decided that this campaign is just a training campaign, and we're all going to reroll our characters for when we do an official homebrew campaign.
There is no such thing as a science experiment gone wrong.
Alkarii
Posts: 1854
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2014 3:02 pm

Re: Tales from the Tabletop

Post by Alkarii »

We didn't play last weekend, but we got two sessions in this weekend (that is, last night and the night before; my "weekend" includes Monday and Tuesday). We still haven't managed to get my petrified sorcerer to someone who can cast Greater Restoration, but then I remembered that our cleric has Sending, so he can contact someone who had previously showed up to informed us that the cleric and his "dark robed companion" (my sister in law's character) had a bounty on their heads for 10k gold, and another thousand for anyone traveling with him. This contact was already on his way back from a distant city, so we're apparently going to have him stop in a closer city and bring someone to meet us who can cast the spell we need.

One thing I find unfortunate is that we've stopped doing actual role-play, and we're just glossing over everything now, but whenever we get around to a fully homebrewed campaign and setting, I'm going to try to encourage that as much as I can.
There is no such thing as a science experiment gone wrong.
Alkarii
Posts: 1854
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2014 3:02 pm

Re: Tales from the Tabletop

Post by Alkarii »

Well... We managed to cure my sorceress of her petrification, but unfortunately that's about it, besides some new NPCs my brother introduced who apparently aren't from the module we're playing.

Also, Sunday marked a full year since we started our campaign. Hopefully, it won't take another year before we get to the point where I can finally run the homebrew campaign I want to run, in our homebrew setting.
There is no such thing as a science experiment gone wrong.
Alkarii
Posts: 1854
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2014 3:02 pm

Re: Tales from the Tabletop

Post by Alkarii »

Not a lot happened in our last session, which was the first since my father passed (the previous session being on the first of the month), but I did get a chuckle out of the table and my sister in law's drow sorceress ended up facepalming audibly.

There was a massive hole in the floor of the room above us, and my paladin (Oath of Glory) looks at it and remarks about it (if you've seen Home Alone 2, exactly what Marv after he falls through the floor)... And then follows with "I think that's what they call a 'glory hole.'"

Given that the paladin came from a small coastal town, I'm sure he'd have heard such talk from folks on the docks...
There is no such thing as a science experiment gone wrong.
Post Reply