The D&D 5e Megadungeon: Two Observations

I ran my first D&D 5e session with our Monday Night Gaming Über Goobers. This also happened to be Session 40 of the Montporte Dungeon Campaign (after a 5 month hiatus). First of all, I like D&D 5e a lot. And, my appreciation of the 5e system is not diminished after an evening on the other side of the DM screen.

As a ruleset for a megadungeon setting, it does play very differently than AD&D 1e and Blood & Treasure, our two previous rulesets for Montporte. Here are two quick observations after one night of play:

1. D&D 5e dungeon play involves less resource management that AD&D 1e. With the rejuvenating abilities of short and long rests, plus a highly modified Vancian magic system that presents more flexibility for players, players have to worry less about running out of hit points or spells (for a similar observation involving D&D versus GURPS, see Patrick Halter's (Renovating the Temple) blog post, Maintaining Encounter Balance). With the earlier editions of D&D, resource management (in the form of hit points and spells), is usually a critical component of megadungeon play.

2. Turn by turn combat tactics matter more in D&D 5e than in AD&D 1e. In AD&D 1e, combat is primarily an exercise in attrition. Tactics matter and can, on occasion, determine combat encounter outcomes but usually the raw abilities to dish out and avoid/absorb hit point damage matters most. With D&D 5e, players have a wider (but still limited) number of meaningful tactical options at their fingertips. And creatures have have more options as well, which can create havoc for careless players. At the same time, magic spells often require concentration and/or a "to hit" roll. This increases the unpredictability in combat, which players have to account for in their tactics.

Despite these differences, D&D 5e is still very much in the D&D family. For example, the speed of play in a dungeon setting is closer to AD&D 1e than 3e/Pathfinder and 4e. We were not bogged down by too many options or modifiers. We had surprisingly little need to stop play to look things up in a book. Most importantly, we enjoyed the session.

Monday Moodsetter 58

The Abbey in the Oakwood (1809-10) by Caspar David Friedrich

RPG Rorschach: What's the first gaming thought that pops into your head?

Aeven Steelhand, My D&D 5e Fighter

Our Monday Night Gaming Group has been playing D&D 5e, with +Rob Conley (Bat in the Attic) running us through the Lost Mine of Phandelver, which he placed in his Majestic Wilderlands campaign setting.

I used the free D&D Basic Rules and went with a simple human fighter, Aeven Steelhand. When my Player's Handbook arrived, I opted to make him a Champion when he hit third level. This meant that Aeven had no spells and not much for specialized skills. He is the toughest frontline fighter in the group, but I found him lacking grit and punch compared to his peers who benefited from spells and special features. This was particularly noticeable when he went down quickly in battles with goblins and zombies. It should be said that our DM was rolling 20s in Roll20 (as if he had hacked the system).

I expected to be limited in my options, but I didn't expect to be so vulnerable.The fighter can wear heavier armor, but doesn't typically have the means to buy when starting out. While it was nice to get the improved critical as a Champion, I found that it didn't noticeably impact play. When playing AD&D 1e years ago and Castles & Crusades a few years back, we gave fighters a d12 for hit points. With Castles & Crusades, this hit point enhancement worked well as we were not using the barbarian class.

None of this changes my overall positive opinion of D&D 5e. I am looking forward to running my first session next Monday night.

Montporte Dungeon Campaign Sessions 38 & 39 Notes

The Cast
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the Second Circle (Half Orc, Hunter): Tim (Gothridge Manor)
Dante Rathburn (Human, Warlock): Chris (The Clash of Spear on Shield)
Luven Lightfinger (Human, Thief): Rob (Bat in the Attic)
Duncan Kern (Gnome, Wizard/Thief): Dan
Lief (Half Elf, Wizard/Cleric/Trickster): Josh
Larramore “Little Larry” (Kobold, Marksman): NPC
Diana (Human, Torch Bearer, Goat Driver): NPC
Marcus Aurelius (Magic Sword): NPC
Daria (Human, Rebel Leader): NPC
Silvaria (Human, Rebel): NPC
Muh ("Gaunt," Rebel): NPC
Zot ("Gaunt," Rebel): NPC
Mechlor (Thuragian, Rebel): NPC
Dwemmon (Gnome): NPC
6 Naked Dwarfs
7 Rescued Gnomes
5 Cave Goats

Summary of Sessions 38 & 39
A few sessions previous, the brave adventurers had used a portable teleport pad (attached to the surface of a small carpet) to teleport to an unknown part of the underdark. They assumed that they they were still in the same dungeon complex and, as their current goal was to return a group of rescued gnomes to their homeland, they decided to continue the mission. The only thing that the brave adventurers knew was that they needed to descend further into the dungeon to find the gnomes' homeland.

Map A (1 square = 5 feet)

The party had begun exploring an area during the last session that included a dead underground forest and garden area (Map A and Map B). In Area 1 (Map A above) above, the party encountered a nasty band of hybrid demon gnomes at the beginning of Session 38. They telepathically attempted to seduce Duncan to their side. During the conversation, the demon gnomes unwittingly confirmed that there were gnomes living somewhere below this area.

To no one's surprise, a battle ensued. The demon gnomes turned out to be tough foes, but Duncan and Daria managed to kill the majority of them and the rest of the party took out the remainders.

The party found one living tree in Area 2 (Map A above). The party used their Finder's Lens and discovered a magic crown embedded with the tree. It turned out to be a gnome crown, which Duncan immediately placed on his own head. The crown imbued Duncan with increased intelligence and an experience point bonus. Duncan found that he could not remove the crown. Dismayed at having a shiny crown on his head, he covered his scalp bling with his magic beanie.

Having completely explored the area, the party moved back to the elevator pad (Area 3 on Map A) and descended to the next lower level (Map B below).

Map B (1 square = 5 feet)

Once the elevator pad had descended (Area 4 on Map B above), the party moved west and discovered a stairway in Area 5, heading down. The stairs descended 21 miles vertically, which was two days worth of travel. At the bottom of the stairs (Area 6 on Map C below), the party found a deep narrow chasm (Area 8 on Map C).

Map C (1 square = 5 feet)

The party was unable to determine the depth of the chasm, nor could they discover a safe way to descend. They could see the remnants of a bridge (Area 7 on Map C), with a corresponding structure in the tunnel mouth on the opposite side of the chasm to the west.

They decided to tie a rope to Duncan, have himself levitate himself, and then give him a firm shove out into the chasm towards the tunnel mouth opposite them. He missed.

Duncan hit the chasm wall and was able to grab hold of the rock surface and pull himself towards the tunnel mouth. He then secured his end of the rope to the the bridge structure while the rest of the party did the same with the other end of the rope on the east side of the chasm. Using plenty of safety line and a fair bit of luck, the party managed to make it safely to the other side. Rather than bring everyone across, Diana stayed with the cave goats on the east side of the chasm. She was joined by Daria and her small band, plus the dwarves.

The party then moved into Room 9. They was a small pink bubbling pool in the middle of the room. The party searched the walls of the room and found three secret doors--one each in the middle of the north, west and south walls. Despite their best efforts, they were not able to any of the doors. In the process, they discovered that (a) the pool and the doors were connected and (b) the pool and doors were, in fact, a sentient creature.

They "fed" the creature a silver bar and the north door opened. A long corridor led them to a door (Area 10 on Map C), which opened into a weird area much like the obelisk rooms they had found in Session 33.

They found a group of large vertical tanks in Room 11. The tanks had clear walls and contained glowing green liquid. In the liquid were large birdlike humanoids, floating peacefully.

The peacefulness was interrupt by the party smashing the side of one of the tanks. The nasty green liquid splashed all over the room and the creature within came out in a foul (fowl?) mood. The party managed to kill it, but not before it did a significant amount of damage, including Adzeer getting his head swallowed. Given the nastiness of the fight, the party opted to leave the rest of the tanks intact.

The party moved into Area 12 and found 4 boxes, each with a small 3D geometric object (each object was about 4" across). Using the Lens of Melnar, the party determined that each of these objects was a key. Moving into Area 13, the party found four larger horizontal tanks. Each tank had a depression shaped like one of the 3D shapes found in Area 12. The tanks also contained the same green fluid found in the tanks in Area 11. The tanks also contained a birdlike humanoid, only these were larger and nastier looking than the ones found in Room 11.

The party decided that (a) these creatures were somehow responsible for many of the most bizarre and ancient features of the Montporte Dungeon, including the obelisks (Session 33) and the magical mysterious panes of glass (Session 6 and subsequent sessions); and (b) these creatures were too tough for the party to deal with at present.

The Dungeon So Far

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Mystery Level A

Mystery Level B

"21 Miles Below"

Monday Moodsetter 57

by James Strehle

RPG Rorschach: What's the first gaming thought that pops into your head?

Converting Experience Points To D&D 5e

We are converting our Blood & Treasure characters to D&D 5e in the Montporte Dungeon Campaign. I could think of a couple of different ways to do it this. One way would be to convert experience points directly. However, because Blood & Treasure has three different experience point tables compared to one for D&D 5e, characters could potentially gain or lose levels based on a meta-game activity.

Instead, I decided to convert each character based on their current level and how far they were from making it to the next level (stated as a percentage). I then placed them the same distance away on the D&D 5e experience table. So if your character is 5th level and has 34% of the experience needed for 6th level in Blood & Treasure, you will still be in exactly the same place in D&D 5e.

The upside is that all characters are still in exactly the same position on the experience table that they were in before. The downside is that character on the "steepest" experience point table (e.g. wizards, sorcerers and warlocks) lost experience points relative to those on the least steep table (e.g. thieves).

Five for Friday 29: Things I Like About D&D 5e

I decided that when I restarted my Rusty Battle Axe blog, I was not going to do reviews. I will, however, occasionally highlight a product that I like. It turns out that the newest iteration of Dungeons & Dragons has made it to that list. Here are five things that I like about it:

• Excellent Player's Handbook: The latest edition of the Player's Handbook is at the top of the list, in terms of the rules themselves, organization, clarity of content, etc. The D&D team managed to create a product that serves newbies and RPG veterans equally well. While it is more complicated that AD&D 1e, the rules are more cohesive. And it is far less clunky than D&D 3.x/Pathfinder.
• Advantages/Disadvantages: What a simple and elegant system! By adding a second die to a die role, the game gains more texture and variability at the cost of a tiny bit of complexity. 
• Death Rolls: This adds a clear rule for how to handle that often vague zero hit point thing. At the same time, it adds high drama to that otherwise passive act of lying in a pool of one's own blood. 
• Groovy Character Classes: I like what WotC has done with the character classes in 5e. Lots of player choices without a lot of overlap. And the choices matter, each class has strengths and weaknesses. There are a lot of strategic and tactical options for players and DMs alike without creating a creaky clunky Byzantine ruleset.
• The Monster Manual: The monsters actually get the biggest overhaul. I have only started reading the MM, but it is very well thought out and every monster has a twist that will matter a great deal in play. 

D&D 5e is definitely in the D&D family, moreso than 4e, for sure. That being said, it is its own version. It is clear that, beyond the character class system and d20 foundation, the designers held nothing sacred. The ruleset is elegant and well-designed. While I will almost always go for the simplicity of Swords & Wizardry Core or Delving Deeper, I am really enjoying playing D&D 5e.