The Back-Up Plan, D&D Edition

By RJ on 29 November 2022. 

When I learned we had to cancel/postpone our next D&D session, I was initially crushed. Presently, I only get the chance to Dungeon Master every two weeks, and I'd been ready for this session for a while. Even the last time we were scheduled to play, I had to cancel! The woeful joy of being the parent of a beautiful baby girl.

When last we left the companions of Caught in Galen, they had teleported inside the fleshy interior of an extraplanar prison, upkept by a timid giff scribe who served the prison's slaadi creator. Sadly, this giff was experiencing a form of Stockholm Syndrome, having been in service of the slaadi named Nailen for untold centuries. The party were doing an okay job of trying to break him from this horrendous, endless bout of servitude, but a certain someone's not-so-nice demeanor was directly causing the poor giff to wish for Nailen's return all the swifter...

Anyway, the companions were in a potentially dusty situation: three beholders had engaged them and were prepared to disintegrate yet another player character (one of the players has lost at least two characters to disintegration rays before). Rays of green energy were blasting the outer shell of this living chunk of a settlement and the party were ready to engage. They thought.

Alas, all of this would have to wait for another stretch of time.

Would the companions survive the three beholders?

Would they succeed in helping the poor giff escape his maniacal slaadi master Nailen?

Would they actually try to use the four, torn pages of the Book of Vile Darkness they'd just found?

Maybe, maybe, and I truly hope not!

I know, I know, you probably think we just canceled and will pick up again in good time. But that's not the case! Just because we weren't playing one campaign didn't mean we couldn't dive back into another!

I call it: the Back-Up Plan, D&D Edition.

Sure, the usual group couldn't gather 'round the table and likely bash in some beholder eyestalks, so we stepped into another adventure I had a firm enough grasp on. One of the players of the other campaign ended up coming, my wife wanted to play, and with those two and my little daughter around the table, we picked up a new tale. There ended up being much less combat and a lot more talking, especially with the cutthroat kobold named Reekdar they ended up meeting, but fun was still had.

This back-up session wasn't what I had planned on DMing that night, but it scratched that itch. It served its purpose well. It only happened, though, because I was moderately prepared.

Always be prepared. Have something on the backburner. Be ready to improvise.

Life happens. Sometimes people need to cancel D&D. 

They get sick. Work comes up. Children are unwell or just plain angry. In any of those cases, try to commit to a back-up plan. Sometimes, that planned D&D session is the biggest source of respite and rejuvenation in someone's week. Don't take it away. Instead, build something new, have it ready.

Really, you only need a few essentials to get a good session going:

• At least one player and their character
• An enticing plot hook
• A few encounter ideas
• A gripping finale

I'll admit I wasn't entirely ready to pick-up that other campaign. I hadn't thought about the world in quite some time, hadn't even familiarized myself with those characters or people or plots. Luckily, I write a lot of my notes down and had a good foundation to quickly build a session on. Plus, I love improvisation! With my notes and a few minutes of thought, I was able to pull together the following:

• A party of two (one historic PC and a new one)
• A demon guards a holy sword below an abandoned mine, a cleric's deity commanded her to recover it
• A stealth mission through a kobold encampment, an interaction with a cutthroat kobold shaman, exploration of the ruined temple that runs into the abandoned mine, and a confrontation with the demon
• It turns out the only object keeping the demon below the surface was the holy sword he was forced to guard. He was sending omens to the cleric as his deity to bait him to the ruined temple. With the sword taken by the party, the demon is free to roam and terrorize the world once more

Regardless of any of that, I pushed myself to run it because I knew it'd be fun. It'd still be a good D&D session; maybe not a great one, definitely not a bad one, but a good one.

Simply "good" D&D is better than no D&D.

The next time life happens and you're about to cancel D&D for the day/week/month/year/decade, take a moment and think:

Is this someone's respite?

Does this help someone rejuvenate?

Do I have something ready to go?

Am I prepared to improvise?

If you're able to answer yes to any of those questions, think twice before sending the official cancellation text. You might just make your own or one of your player's days by deciding not to cancel and go forward with something unexpected instead.

Related Articles

• Don't Regret Running a Basic D&D Game
• Recuperation and Inspiration
• Learn From Epic Failure and Slog

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The End of Eldar and the Beginning of Golgifell

After years of breathing life into fantasy characters and realms, I'm finally creating life in the real world. My wife is pregnant with our first child, a little girl, and she is due in March 2022! The aura surrounding her inception and the news of her impending arrival rightly took up much of my mind's time the past few months, not striking down D&D from my long-list of hobbies, but surely keeping me from writing anything of interest here on RJD20. That won't persist, RJD20 will live on for as long as it's able, and I'll continue to write here...however sporadic it might be.

Let's briefly catch up.

The End of Eldar, For Now

Currently, I'm running two campaigns. One remains in the world of Eldar, my old, high magic setting where anything is possible. Caught in Galen is nearing its end, somewhat unnaturally, due to my interest in other settings and stories. Over the past few months, there was a shift in my mind set when it comes to telling stories. Limiting aspects in my games is more appealing to me, especially with the groups I play with; I'm certain it will lead to a more compelling story, as are my players. With that, Caught in Galen will end by March of next year and my new world shall continue to grow, alongside my young child.

The Start of a New World: Golgifell

The Rise of the Giants, a brief campaign in Eldar, experienced a world-shift as I took on the role of a Watcher-like entitity and whisked the group away to a completely different universe. From Eldar to Golgifell they went, touring Abeir-Toril, Eberron, Nepeara, and other worlds along the way (very briefly). Golgifell is my new setting, the first I've truly formed in over six years, and it extremely different when compared to Eldar. While Eldar is high magic, welcoming to all, and home to world-shaking event after world-shaking event, stories on Golgifell are meant to be smaller, more bite-sized with rarer interactions with the arcane and divine. As a result, Rise of the Giants has been rebranded as the South Shards, a West Marches style campaign in the world of Golgifell. After Caught in Galen, my next campaign will also take place in Golgifell and I'll continue to hone this new setting. Ideally, this process will arrive with a host of new articles and bits of advice as I radically shift not only the setting I've presented to my players for years, but my style of Dungeon Master. Time will tell, but I am quite excited for it.

Eldar will eventually return, of course, but it might appear quite different depending on the ultimate conclusion of Caught in Galen. I'm anxious to see how that campaign will end, especially after a near total party kill in the last session I ran of it.

To the Future

And that's it, for now. Summarized: I am expecting a new addition to my family in March 2022, I'm still playing D&D, and I'm still worldbuilding. Articles on RJD20 will continue to be sporadic for the time being, but will appear. Be on the lookout, you never know when one will arrive! Perhaps that is disconcerting, but it's the truth for now.

Looking to the future, I'm satisfied. I hope all your lives are going well, too. Continue growing and adventuring, folks.

Until the next encounter, farewell!

Let's Catch Up With Caught in Galen: Sessions 21-40

It’s been awhile since an article has hit RJD20, but I’ve not halted playing Dungeons & Dragons one bit. Work is taxing, life after it must be relaxing, and so I only enter the archives of RJD20 when I can safely juggle the exhaustion of work and the thrilling task of writing. As you can likely tell, I was recently able to walk into the archives. Before we get back to other D&D topics like why this game is such a thrill and how it can fuse connections between absolutely anyone, let’s catch up with my favorite D&D campaign I’ve run thus far: Caught in Galen.

Rapid Fire Rundown

If you'd like to see a breakdown of the campaign in a concise manner, look over the Caught in Galen Campaign Compendium. Otherwise, continue below!

Session 21: The Submerged Path

The companions reunited with Argus, battled a spider roper, socialized with kuo-toa, and discovered the site of dark elf cannibalization. The combat encounter was the primary part of this session, as well as the development of the kuo-toa and their religion as it related to Ignis and his Bahamut connection. Alongside the kuo-toa, the party were finally making substantial ground through the twisting caverns of the Jungle of Pipes.

Session 22: Foe to Friend

The companions solved a dark fire puzzle, fought umber hulks, conferred with an unlikely ally, and planned for an assault on Tairox Landing or Varmin. I deeply enjoyed the puzzle in this session, as did the players. I ripped it from an MMORPG called Dungeons & Dragons Online in which it appeared in a raid called the Shroud. It translated well to the tabletop environment, though the stakes while solving it could have been higher. Jason Urso, one of the PCs was able to finally encounter one of his vile uncles (before the campaign began they left him for dead and supposedly did something to his father). Still, Tairox Landing and the endgame of the Jungle of Pipes loomed.

Session 23: Steamy Subterfuge

The companions journeyed across the Subterrane and forged two alliances, realized a truth about Tairox Landing, and rendezvoused in Haadgadza. The two alliances were with the survivors of a beholder hive and spider-riding drow who despised not only the nearby inhabitants of Tairox Landing, but the other possible allies of the party (duergar). An epic realization occurred in this session: the group realized the enemy faction called the Verdant Skull was grinding down beholder eyes inside of a steam volcano to shroud their settlement in a cloud of antimagic, hindering spell-casters and obscuring it from all divination. When the characters/players figured it out, I took a mental snap shot of the table; it was glorious.

Session 24: In Dreams

Jason, Ghost, Luna, and Ignis entered Dal Quor, found a flumph friend named Brioche, witnessed the Wailing, fought slaadi, and saw Varmin's rise. Thankfully, this session was jam-packed with incredible moments, so it was the perfect lead into the mega session. I had one of my good friends guest star as a flumph bard, I was able to showcase one of the most horrifying moments in my world’s recent history (The Wailing), and the characters interacted with two major characters...unknowingly...for the first time.

Session 25 (Mega Session): The Truth, Unveiled 

At last, Varmin was killed, the Barrier broken, Calastis defeated, the Entropic Enclave discovered, and the truth, unveiled. By far, this was the longest D&D session I’ve ever run. It lasted 13 hours and not a moment was dull, a truth I’m proud to espouse. I thought it’d be difficult to hold my players’ attention for that long, but because we mesh so well, because they’re all entranced with the story and their characters, it was a breeze. In the campaign, they breached Tairox Landing, discovered that the Barrier surrounding Galen was actually the result of a captured Archmagus Calastis Starcloak casting worldshift to teleport the entire city to Dal Quor, the Plane of Dreams. Together, they sadly executed the puppeted wizard and witnessed two members of the Entropic Enclave—an organization of aberrations and aberrationists—escape. So much more happened, but I’m trying to be as concise as I can!

Session 26: Exodus

Back in Galen, the party split across Vorici's Rest and the Den District to pursue various odds and ends. This began a trio of one-on-one sessions that are detailed below. Lots of roleplaying, lots of character development across the board.

Session 27: Through the Flood

Jason broke into Amal's house, had a deep conversation with a gazer, and journeyed to and back from Giolla via griffon chariot. Subterfuge and discussions of the planes of existence dominated this session. My favorite!

Session 28: Iced Over

Ghost opened an account with House Vibius, discovered the slaughter of the Hidhuntre Clan, and reforged his estranged father in ice and blood. Who doesn't love banking and father-son action in D&D?

Session 29: Meetings in the Dark

Ignis made up with Rea, rendezvoused with Tillin and Shishotile, witnessed Nala become a divine soul, and spent the night with his love. Romance and shady business; it was a good time.

Session 30: Heroes of Below

The party related their experiences in the Faded Ember Inn, met with Lady Gwenine Coris, and spread across Galen in search of assistance. Caught in Galen’s thirtieth session easily contained one of my favorite social interactions in the campaign thus far: a tense dialogue between the cold lady of a powerful house and the party. Hint after hint (since session 8) pointed at her being more than met the eye, and the party thought they’d figured her out. They hadn’t in this session, but in the next her secret was revealed.

Session 31: Poison is Coming

Virtue and his crew struck a deal with the group, Lady Gwenine's secret was revealed, Avalanche hatched, and the party plotted their next steps. Lady Gwenine’s secret was discovered: she was a green dragon from Koth in disguise, ruthlessly restructuring her house and its position in the city. Another snap shot moment when the players figured it out, absolutely stellar. Also, the party obtained a white dragon wyrmling!

Session 32: Goodbye, Galen

The group bid farewell to their friends in Galen, negotiated a deal with Lady Coris, and finally said goodbye to Galen aboard the Bloody Mist. After about 40 sessions (including session 0’s and the prologue), the party left Galen this session.

Session 33: Aetherhawks

The party battled a vengeful minotaur and his crew, navigated a fierce storm, learned more about each other, and arrived in Iorgal's Vale. Finally, we had a battle in the sky that included 4 airships, a clumsy hill giant, and a mysterious minotaur.

Session 34: Emerald and Gold

The party surprisingly allied with Scalanis, met a pleasant hill giant, and encountered an ancient soulforged druid. This session saw me successfully trick the party into working with a vile villain to save Hermione, Luna’s (one of the PC’s) dear friend. They also encountered a character thousands of years old that was freed by the PC’s of a previous campaign of mine. Snap shot moment!

Session 35: Against a Dragon

The party convened with Lacai, spoke with the other druids, battled Tarnakan, and witnessed Iorgal's frozen descent from the sky. Who doesn't love to see an archdevil-powered airship shoot a gargantuan, maddened gold dragon from the sky? I'd say that's a wonderful session closer...

Session 36: A Chance at Victory

The party slew Iorgal beside a host of allies and restored Shanxiong to the mortal world. With the help of multiple powerful druids, an archdevil, and an elder emerald dragon, the party managed to slay a crazed ancient gold dragon—at level 6. Little did they know, the true challenge related to the poor gold dragon awaited ahead.

Session 37: Saviours

The party faced a messenger of the Accursed Archive, rescued two typhons, entered Iorgal's lair, and battled an enormous demon. The beginning of a dungeon delve and a rescue mission, in addition to a glimpse into Jason Urso’s dark past. Great session.

Session 38: Iorgal's Legacy

The party slaughtered Basgord, forged new allies, finally found Hermione, and fought deadly devils deep within Iorgal's lair. I made one of my players cry this session AND managed to end it on a perfect cliffhanger, pitting them face to face with the villain they allied with prior: Scalanis. My players’ ingenuity also saved them here, they were against an unwinnable battle, but they achieved the impossible.

Session 39: An Inferno of Lies

The party finally executed Scalanis, accidentally created a manifestation of Orcus, and forged a plan to banish it from the Emerald Forest. This session concluded the arc of Luna (as it related to Scalanis) and launched a completely new story into the campaign with the creation of an Unholy Avenger.

Session 40: The Unholy Avenger

The party delved into Iorgal's lair while Jason became a new man and altogether, they freed Shanxiong and witnessed the renewal of his realm. Another absolutely excellent session: Jason Urso sacrificed himself, carrying the blood of Orcus and distracting the Unholy Avenger while his companions dug deep below swamp to release the elder emerald dragon Shanxiong. Multiple snap shot scenes in this session—truly! The companions emerging from beneath the swamp and Iorgal’s lair to see the emerald dragon, actually the entire forest, tearing apart the shambling undead horde of the Unholy Avenger; Jason Urso being brought back to life, emerging from a pool of his own blood; the group realizing their prisoner had escaped during the chaos. All great moments, lots of action, and a perfect lead in to a likely calm session 41.

Up Next

That’s where we are with Caught in Galen. Session 41 is this Tuesday and is titled “Looting the Lair”. I think it’ll be a calm session of roleplay and advancement. But it’s D&D—who knows?

Until the next encounter, farewell!

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Caught in Galen Lessons: Session 20

My players continue to challenge me every week during Caught in Galen. It’s my current D&D campaign and favorite module I’ve created thus far in my career as a Dungeon Master. Will it continue to be this exciting and informative? I truly hope so. Session 20 was action-packed and rapidly evolved the campaign’s narrative. Let’s catch up and glimpse at what I learned during this session. Of course, these lessons should be applicable to your own game as well. We all learn from each other!

Session 20: To Tairox Landing

Previously in Caught in Galen, the party decided to follow Strunt through the narrow kobold tunnels that led toward Tairox Landing. Imprisoned allies awaited them there, alongside the mysterious Vaxilidan and a sizable chunk of the Verdant Skull. They were undeterred.

Today, I’m trying a different approach to recapping the session. These were its events:

• The companions crawled through tight kobold tunnels and nearly fell into a huge fissure.
• They scaled the fissure and found a forgotten and flooded dragonborn tomb.
• They solved a puzzle that opened up new passageways in the tomb.
• Inside they met a kobold mastermind named Vess, an ally of the Verdant Skull.
• They decided to work together briefly in an attempt to loot the crypt and fight off the kuo-toa who laired in it.
• Following Vess, they navigated the flooded passages and discovered a wispy portal through a secret door.
• Bravely, they leaped inside the portal and discovered it led to Dal Quor.
• In the Plane of Dreams, they once again met with the supposedly assassinated Calastis Starcloak.
• The human archmage warned them of imminent destruction and their need for swiftness. He hinted at time skips, disaster in Tairox Landing, and the fate of Galen being in their hands.
• The dream collapsed around the party as aberrations tore into this region of the Plane of Dreams. Jason managed to glimpse Loogodramin through his byeshk orb. The massive slaadi seemed to loom over something mysterious.
• They managed to escape the dream and discover the mortal world again. Vess was gone.
• Understanding they needed to be quick, they moved back to the crypt’s entrance to leave it behind.
• Upon emerging from the water, they were surrounded by kuo-toa, dead kobolds on the ground.
• An animated statue of Bahamut and an animated statue of Tiamat bursted through one of the crypt’s doors.

The session ended there. Would the party ally with the kuo-toa? How were the statues animated? Where did Vess go? How long did they have before all of Galen suffered? Well, session 21 answered a few of those questions. But before we dive into that one, let me explain why I thoroughly enjoyed this session.

Dal Quor, the Plane of Dreams, has been integral to Caught in Galen since the beginning. In one of the prologue sessions, three of the PCs were even able to visit it! Since then, there’s only been hints at it—glimpses of it. Finally, they were able to enter this fantastical dreamscape again.

In a realm where dreams are reality, anything is possible.

Giving access to a place such as Dal Quor early on in the campaign has provided me with plenty of opportunities for foreshadowing. I’ve hinted at the primary antagonist of the campaign, minor backstory plots, random nothing burgers, and key details for the current narrative. My players haven’t caught all of it, but they’ve caught some. When they do, they’re giddy. I am too.

I’m glad I decided to give Dal Quor such a huge part in the campaign early on. I suggest we all try out wild strategies like this. It doesn’t matter if our parties are level two, fling them into the Plane of Fire! So what if the group just hit level four? Time for a visit to Avernus. Exploring realms like these at such a low level provides a memorable experience for us all. Isn’t that what we all yearn for from D&D?

We have a long way to go to catch up to Caught in Galen: next week is session 36! I’ll see you all soon, when we discuss the fallout out the party’s exploration of the draconic crypt.

Until the next encounter, farewell!

Caught in Galen Lessons: Sessions 18-19

Sessions 18 and 19 of Caught in Galen were rough. This fact makes them great bits of Dungeons & Dragons to dissect because while I deeply enjoy successful encounters, interesting characters, and fulfilling character arcs, they’re not as helpful in my journey to become a better DM as sessions where I think I failed. Session 18: Slimy Happenings ended on a poor cliffhanger—mostly due to the failure of the party’s plans and Session 19: Ruthless didn’t happen for a few weeks due to my move. Sadly, the wait was arduous and the session's conclusion was unsatisfying.

In retrospect though, each of those sessions might’ve been successful in the minds of my players but not my own. I might be overblowing the failures. After every session, I poll my players and ask if they had fun. So far, it's always been a resounding yes.

But...

Let’s recap these two sessions and tear them apart. We are going to discover what went wrong, if anything.

Session 18: Slimy Happenings

The session started in the depths of Galen, below the sewers and in the region known as the Jungle of Pipes. A combination of caverns, ruins, and sewers, the Jungle housed many of the party’s foes. After much preamble on the surface, they had finally arrived and were prepared to face the terrors of this dark labyrinth.

Immediately, they confronted a slug-like aberration called a leurgva. It welcomed their arrival. To the party’s surprise, the leurgva revealed key locations around the Jungle and urged them to act. They realized as an aberration from Xoriat, the Realm of Madness, all this creature sought was chaos. If they acted as it wished, they would be giving in to its desires. The leurgva crawled away and left the party with a few hazy choices. They discussed their options and decided to head toward one of the bases of the enemy faction, the Verdant Skull, a ruined town called Tairox Landing. There, they would find prisoners from the surface: friends and allies that needed saving.

That decision led them to destruction.

Down twisting passages they journeyed. Past a burning camp built around a towering stalagmite and into a wide cavern, the party discovered the ruins of a lightning rail track. Following it, they found a fort constructed from dilapidated lightning rail cars.

The fort was guarded by the Verdant Skull.

Together, they tried to hatch a plan. Multiple ideas were pitched and rejected and no one seemed to be on the same page. One of the PCs ran off and tried to sneak past the barricade. He failed and drew the guards’ attention. The party panicked and tried to disguise themselves as members of the Verdant Skull. Without his consent, they turned on a member of the party, the kobold warlock named Ghost, and played him off as a prisoner to the guards. Unknowingly, all prisoners' brains were consumed by the intellect devourers stationed at this fort.

As the mindflayer pet approached, the party needed to make a decision.

If they struck out against the guards and the intellect devourer, all pretenses of disguise and subterfuge would disappear and they could be overpowered. If they let the intellect devourer reach Ghost, he and his memories would be gone for the foreseeable future.

To me, the decision was simple. However, the party attempted to have it both ways.

They attacked the intellect devourer and continued to act like allies to the Verdant Skull guards. In addition to a few failed checks, their story was far too incredulous at that point. The guards attacked the party. The ensuing battle continued until the end of the session and resulted in the death of a party member—not the fake captured one; Butcher, the party’s newest member, was no more. His soul drifted from his mortal form and was caught against the Barrier surrounding Galen; he was dead but not entirely gone!

The session ended with that death. I felt horrible. The players seemed frustrated that their plan didn’t work. It’s not a great feeling, I know. As I look back on that night, I’m not too sure how to feel. In the moment, I was upset for them, upset that they had lost and we had to end at the climax of that loss. Now, I think it was warranted. The jig was up. Their plan failed and plans need to fail—sometimes horrendously.

I strive to make every session as fun as possible for all my players. At the table, I give them all my attention and give their stories all the effort I can. I feed on their energy. When they fail and are upset, I feel the same way.

But it’s okay to fail. It makes the next success all the sweeter. That doesn’t mean the visceral stench of failure doesn’t drain the life out of you in the moment. It does. Just remember that there are highs and lows and as long as you strive to create an interesting world full of adventure and opportunity, you’re doing it right.

Session 19: Ruthless

Butcher, the party’s newest member, was dead in the arms of Luna as session 19 began.

The battle between the party and the Verdant Skull guards continued. The guards were led by T-750, a warforged animated by a necrotic docent (he was also a former PC). During the melee, a new PC was introduced: Argus, the half-orc Eldritch Knight! The battle was difficult and nearly saw the death of another PC. Luckily, Luna saved the near-death member, Ignis the fire genasi warlock, with a clutch version of the sleep spell that only affected constructs.

Three cheers for useful homebrew!

As the battle went cold an argument heated up between the party. They needed to decide what to do with the lone survivor of this ruined lightning rail fort. I’ll admit, this debate went on longer than it needed to and it was my fault. I tried interjecting as both the prisoner (who invited death) and the newly introduced NPC who came with Argus. The prisoner and new NPC sought the prisoner’s demise, yet the party couldn’t come to a conclusion for awhile.

Honestly, it bogged down the session and hurt my heart after. It was the first session in my new house and was otherwise fantastic, but I knew I could have done something to quicken the debate or lessen the hostility between the PCs and players.

The debate eventually ended and the party moved on, led by the new NPC, a kobold named Strunt. They started crawling through kobold tunnels, a stellar and safe shortcut to Tairox Landing. The session concluded in a junction of these tunnels and the party set camp.

Sadly, the remains of the combat and the debate took up most of the session. The combat was intense but a remnant of the session that ended on a sore note weeks before. The debate was vital to the story but definitely a detriment I could have dissuaded. The debate especially upsets me because it has happened to my groups before. Of course, this debate wasn’t as bad as the previous debate (full story on that to come soon), so I didn’t feel the need to interject. It was mostly in-character and had zero out-of-character jabs. As a DM, I felt inclined (and still do, frankly) to let it happen. But it’s irking me. If I intervened, would it have lessened the story? If I intervened, would the players feel influenced by me? Or worse—controlled?

As I’m writing this, I’ve not decided how I feel, though I’m leaning toward the side of intervening the next time this happens. Mad warforged cultists burst from the wall, picks in-hand! An umber hulk drops from the ceiling, its gaze dragging you out of your argument! The elf scholar you were escorting, she’s gone!

Yes, I think I’ll intervene next time. Better to add something new to the story than drag it out with angry banter between characters.

Up Next

For awhile, I considered Sessions 18 and 19 to be potholes in the massive, paved highway that is Caught in Galen. As I think back on them, I’m believing them more and more to be tiny bumps in the road. Nevertheless, my favorite D&D campaign thus far soldiers on. Session 22 is this coming Tuesday, which means we’ll be gazing over sessions 20 and 21 next. Session 20 was amazing. Session 21 was something. I’m excited to discuss them both in the next Tales of Galen piece.

Oh, and did I mention we’re holding a mega-session on December 19th? I’ll probably discuss that at some point, too...

Until the next encounter, stay creative!

First time reading RJD20? Begin here, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, and join the discussion in the comments below.

Consider picking up my first supplement, Villain Backgrounds Volume I on the Dungeon Masters Guild. It helps fund D&D supplements of the future.

Provide any feedback or inquiries to @RJD20Writes on Twitter or rjd20writes@gmail.com via email. 

Caught in Galen Lessons: Sessions 16-17

The RJD20 front has been silent for a few weeks for good reason: my wife and I moved into a house! Now that we’re settled (for the most part), weekly articles and more shall return. This is the first piece I’m writing from our new office, looking out over a serene lake, autumnal trees looming over the shimmering water. It’s a splendid office, it’s a splendid house. Already, I’ve played three Dungeons & Dragons sessions here (two as a DM, one as a player), and look forward to rolling many more dice in our own dungeon decorated and designed specifically to play games like D&D.

So, how has Caught in Galen been going? Absolutely incredibly. We went on our longest hiatus (two weeks) due to a possible sickness and our move, but we quickly leaped back into the fray. This article will observe and dissect sessions 16-17 of Caught in Galen, enjoy!

Who is Poppy?

Secrets are a powerful tool in D&D. Whether its secrets of NPCs— the vampire has a long lost love he cannot battle; the red dragon keeps a deadly wizard deep in its lair; the goblin boss isn’t as macho as many of his kin believe — or secrets of PCs, they can be utilized to drive the story forward, build tension, and unleash climactic moments your players will remember for the rest of the campaign, if not the rest of their lives.

Caught in Galen is rife with secrets, both of NPCs and PCs, and it’s better for it. One example of a secret wielded well is in session 16.

As a trio of pale, nude high elves with tattoos of sulking brains on their heads attacked the characters’ home base, the elves called out to someone named Poppy. Obviously, they were baiting this “Poppy” into confronting them or revealing herself. They knew Poppy was present, but no one else in the party or the establishment knew of a Poppy...or so they said. As the combat evolved and even after it ended with the climactic reveal of the kidnapping of a dear NPC, the players and their characters speculated about Poppy. Who was Poppy? Why did the elves want her? Why wasn’t Poppy revealing herself? The questions continued and were subtly brushed away.

Of course, Poppy is the true identity of one of the party members; it’s a name she used to go by in her homeland and it has chased her all the way to the City of Magic. What the elves want, why they’re interested in Poppy, and what the ultimate outcome of their involvement in the story will be is all driven by a secret. This secret, forged by a player, successfully added another layer to the story and coalesced a veil of mystery between party members. Ensuring the secret doesn’t divide the party, ensuring it simply manifests in a fun and interesting way, the secret will surely continue to make the campaign better.

What can we learn here? Secrets are powerful tools, but they must be used properly. If the DM reveals a PC secret too soon or at the wrong time, it can upset a player and, possibly, erode trust between PCs. That’s not the goal; the goal of wielding a secret properly is ensuring it makes the game more interesting and more fun.

 

Encounter Complete

Creating compelling encounters is one of the most important jobs of a DM. Unlike more narrative systems, D&D relies on interesting combat encounters at least every 3 or 4 sessions. Most abilities characters gain are combat-focused, most die-rolling occurs in combat, and, let’s face it, tons of players thoroughly enjoy battling monsters in dungeons and in wilderness.

Sometimes, though, combats go awry due to clever thinking by the PCs or poor planning by the DM. This happened in session 17 of Caught in Galen.

The companions, alongside a battalion of well-armed soldiers and mages, delved into the supposedly locked location of a set of planar gates. Ever since the Barrier was raised in Galen, planar travel was impossible, so the structure was closed down and abandoned for the time being. However, while no one was guarding it, nasty aberrations called leurgva broke into it and lathered it in translucent slime. The slime caused those who touched it to become restrained, unable to move from their position. Immediately, the party started to experiment with it: how would they remove it from the structure? Touching it obviously didn’t work. Wiping it up didn’t work. Pouring water on it...cleared it away! But what about fire? Fire rapidly spread on the slime, creating a massive inferno. The group worked their way past the patches until they reached the chamber with the planar gates in which these large humanoid slugs waited. Instantly, the party unleashed fire into the room and engulfed it: encounter over, the leurgva were no more. Of course, there were a few consequences, but the encounter was vanquished in a moment’s notice. I wanted to go back on my description for a brief moment, but I rapidly decided that I wouldn’t. Their clever thoughts and my poor planning led to this fast victory.

Do you see what can be learned? Even if you plan an awesome encounter, your reactionary thoughts or your players intelligent responses might nullify it quickly. If that happens, let it be! Learn from it and plan out the next one. And honestly, sometimes, it’s good for the PCs to annihilate an encounter. The feeling makes them confident...and lures them into the clutches of the next one which is sure to be absolutely wicked!

Art from Volo's Guide to Monsters.

Up Next...

The upcoming sessions contain plenty of lessons to be learned and many tales to be told. The format of Tales of Galen will continue to evolve as the campaign does. If you are enjoying the current format of the series, please let me know! If you’re interested in seeing it change a bit, please do the same. Sessions 18 and 19 of Caught in Galen are climactic: they involve the longest battle of the campaign, a deadly twist, and a morality debate. Writing about them is going to be great.

Until next time, stay creative!

First time reading RJD20? Begin here, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, and join the discussion in the comments below.

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Provide any feedback or inquiries to @RJD20Writes on Twitter or rjd20writes@gmail.com via email. 

Art credit, in order: The 5e D&D Starter Set and Volo's Guide to Monsters.

Caught in Galen Lessons: Sessions 13-15

We’re almost on track with the Caught in Galen campaign! Next week is session 19; this article reviews and explores the lessons learned and best moments of sessions 13-15. From explosive combats at a lovely little inn and player character robberies, to untimely death in a sewer pit and incredible revelations for major plot points, this stretch of Caught in Galen was extremely satisfying to run. Observing the players pit their characters against near impossible foes, overcome them, and then use the information they gleaned from those encounters is gratifying.

Introducing BARDCORE

Session thirteen started at the party’s home base, the Faded Ember Inn, as they waited for an important arrival. Sitting in the main room of the establishment, a popular band of their community ascended the newly-built stage to perform their greatest hits in front of an excited audience. You see, the Faded Ember Inn had been closed for almost a week and a half due to a fire beetle infestation and constant visits from iconic individuals; now was the time to jam out and make some profit for its fire genasi owners. The band introduced themselves and began their music as I, outside the game, started a playlist over the speakers we use during D&D. A few days before that session, I discovered bardcore, a genre of music that remixes today’s songs as performances by bards from medieval times. As song after song played, a battle raged in the inn, the party’s enjoyment of the music only deepened.

What can we learn? Unconventional music, even from our own era, can greatly enhance a D&D game, but truly, you should always use background music during your games! Use a speaker set or an iHome to play music during your sessions. It adds to the atmosphere, from lovely, relaxing music during overland travel, to rambunctious, discomforting music during intense action sequences. Be wary with your music management though; sweet & calm music can take away from exciting battles.

Turning Point

At the end of last session, the party discovered that one of their members, Flux, had been kidnapped and taken below the city. Finally, they were ready to head into the sewers. A plethora of sessions had passed between the first time they were going to delve below and the current. At first, they were too scared to go below. Then, others things popped into their heads that they thought they had to go and chase. All the while, the villain of the chapter continued to build their plans, piece by piece. Time was passing as they pursued these other ends through various means. Nonetheless, they all knew the true threat was buried beneath them, below the sewers and in the place known as the Jungle. No matter how I hinted toward these actions being taken or how I prodded them toward this place, they went after other quests; finally, when one of their own had been taken below, they decided to descend into the depths. Sometimes, that’s what you need to do to progress…

Is there a lesson here? I think so. Inaction can be a problem in D&D. The party may believe the path forward is too dangerous to pursue, so they go after other things in the world. That’s fine. I run my games like a sandbox: the party can do whatever they want, but the central tension continues to intensify and the villains they know about all too well continue to build on their plans and machinations. Sometimes, characters must be prodded into action gently; if that doesn’t work, force their hand. Alert them that if they do not act, there will be extreme consequences.

To Dust

After saving their party member in the last session, the party were faced with the opportunity to fight one of their primary antagonists, all of them against her and her alone. However, this pit the party against each other; some believed they should retreat to the surface, that they beholder-like being barreling toward them would be too strong for them to overcome. Others thought they should stand and fight, that this was their chance to eliminate a major opponent. After plenty of debate, they decided to battle this creature they fully knew was of extreme power. As they prepared the field of battle, they gained an ally — an old friend — and waited for the creature: Ixigana. The beholder-like expurgat blasted through the floor using her disintegration ray and fought the party. The battle was close and saw the disintegration of one of the party members. Alas, he was the main proponent to stay behind and fight; the battle was won and he was avenged, but he was dead. This traumatic death became the centerpiece the rest of the session. His leftovers — dust — scattered over an ally, party members enraged against the enemy, and people needed to be told of his demise (of import was a dear friend of the deceased, it was a touching moment). We need not explore the revelation that was made out of character because of his death: the trapping of all souls in the city.

This one is easy. Make death impactful in D&D. The demise of a character should be a memorable moment and it should deeply affect the campaign and the characters. Do not drag out the death, but reinforce the fact that the character was a part of the world and meant something to the creatures in it.

Up Next

The last few sessions of Caught in Galen were eventful. I am excited to explore them each with all of you as we continue to catch up to this D&D campaign of epic proportions.

Until next time, stay creative!

Related Articles

• Caught in Galen Lessons: Sessions 5-8
• Caught in Galen Lessons: Sessions 9-12

First time reading RJD20? Begin here, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, and join the discussion in the comments below.

Consider picking up my first supplement, Villain Backgrounds Volume I on the Dungeon Masters Guild. It helps fund D&D supplements of the future.

Provide any feedback or inquiries to @RJD20Writes on Twitter or rjd20writes@gmail.com via email.

Art credit, in order: Monster Manual (WOTC).

Caught in Galen Lessons: Sessions 9-12

We’re continuing to catch up with Caught in Galen today. As the party prepares to finally enter the legendary and mysterious Jungle of Pipes, we’ll be recounting and pondering over the lessons learned in sessions nine through twelve of this grand Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Plenty happened, from an eerie encounter with a kalashtar, to the to foiling of a major plot. I planned to expect the unexpected and, as always, was still surprised by my genius and unpredictable players.

Going Separate Ways

There is a famous line in many circles across D&D players: “Never split the party.” Well, this session saw the party diverge for its entirety. Normally, I’d abhor this sort of play, as would my players. However, in the campaign we’re running, there are countless side objectives and stories that can be pursued due to the setting. Galen is a city, an enclosed space. Danger exists, but it doesn’t lurk around every corner. There are pockets of safety everywhere; there are NPCs important to the PCs everywhere; there are stories developing everywhere. So, when the party decided to go three different ways, I embraced it, as did the other players. Despite the split, everyone enjoyed the session. Multiple stories leaped forward and, eventually, everyone reconverged to prepare for their next adventure.

What can we glean from this? Splitting the party isn’t always a terrible mistake, especially if they’re in a setting that’s safe and always for separate travel. However, you need to ensure everyone remains engaged: don’t stick to one PC’s story for an extended period of time, leaving another PC to watch from the darkness.

The Villain One-Shot

In a break from the main campaign, session ten saw four of the five players take on villainous personas and serve the side of the enemy their main characters were battling. Each player portrayed a monstrous PC and leader of a dastardly faction. One played a troll Gloom Stalker, a truly deadly combination. Another mixed a hobgoblin with the Way of the Samurai. Each of the characters was distinct, memorable, and would become villains in the primary campaign. The players went into this one-shot knowing that (if the villainous PC’s survived, of course). They were designing the foes their main characters would one day fight.

How does this help you? Although I explained how one-shots can enhance your primary campaign in-depth in a past article, I’ll summarize here. If you want to explore a different side of D&D, whether it’s allowing the players to become wicked beasties, exploring your world’s past, or fleshing out the villains of your campaign, one-shots act as excellent mediums. In addition, they can segment a campaign extremely well, giving your players a break from playing the same character week after week.

A Change of Plans

At the end of session nine, the party cemented their next moves. I always try to glean what my players and their characters plan on doing so I can prepare my page of notes on the correct topics, encounters, and NPCs. At the beginning of session eleven, the party was set to descend into the infamous Jungle of Pipes, where their primary enemy hid and prepared for his faction’s next attack. However, in this session’s opening moments, the plan rapidly changed; they wouldn’t be heading into the Jungle, they’d be splitting up to act against this enemy without needing to step foot into the dangerous sewers, caverns, and ruins below the city. I was floored but completely prepared for this unexpected event. Why? Always be prepared to improvise when playing D&D.


What’s the primary lesson? No matter how solid your party’s plans might be at the end of one session, be ready to throw away all your notes and react to a brand new course of action. Don’t railroad your group. Don’t force them into the situations, NPCs, and pathways you thought up; maybe you’ll be able to use them all later. Instead, always be prepared to improvise.

Flashforward, Flashback

Session twelve of Caught in Galen marked the first time I’ve ever dabbled with time travel in my D&D campaigns and setting. After a heroic victory and a new alliance, I skipped forward two weeks, shocking my players. I asked them each to describe an important moment that occurred in those two weeks and went around the table. After everyone recounted or played through that moment, I described a two-week flashback and had them all make an Intelligence Saving Throw. Those who succeeded remembered their important event and knew they’d experienced some sort of look into the future, those that failed knew something was awry but couldn’t remember their key moment. My entire table had no idea what was going on — they were mind boggled. Speculation occurred and they became more and more invested into the story. I know what happened, some of their speculation was correct, but I cannot reveal the exact details here...my players read my articles.

Can you use this? Time travel is a tricky subject. There are lots of variations of it out there for a plethora of worlds. If you want to incorporate it into your games, you need to think carefully. The ramifications of inserting it into your setting is massive and it opens up countless opportunities for villains and PC’s to affect your world in unthinkable ways. Use time travel at your own risk!

Up Next

As the Caught in Galen campaign builds, I’ll still be reflecting on what I’ve learned from it so that all of you may profit from my mistakes and successes. Remember, if you want to check out what’s going on in the campaign, check out the Caught in Galen Campaign Compendium and try out making one for your own D&D campaign.

Until next time, stay creative!

First time reading RJD20? Begin here, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, and join the discussion in the comments below.

Consider picking up my first supplement, Villain Backgrounds Volume I on the Dungeon Masters Guild. It helps fund D&D supplements of the future.

Provide any feedback or inquiries to @RJD20Writes on Twitter or rjd20writes@gmail.com via email. 

Art credit: Rising From the Last War (WOTC).

Caught in Galen Lessons: Sessions 5-8

The Caught in Galen campaign has been going strong. Next week is its eighteenth session; I last spoke about it after session four! We have a lot to catch up on and a plethora of topics to discuss. Over the past few months, there has been battles in warehouses slicked with oil, interrogations of blathering white dragonborn, realizations about traitorous dwarves and scheming nobles, deadly combats inside shattered temples, brief excursions into the sewers beneath Galen, and much, much more. Let’s discuss and dissect the best parts of sessions five through eight, and see what we can learn.

Beggaton is Forged

An awesome moment of collaboration between me and the player of Jason Urso resulted in the creation of Beggaton. Once called the Beggar’s Town, now shortened to Beggaton, this slum in the community of Vorici’s Rest is where the impoverished and somewhat kooky magewrights gather to live as one and try to survive the madness surrounding them. Jason’s character has a history in the city, and knows its streets quite well, so when he needed a fast way to a certain location, we forged Beggaton. What ensued was a quick romp through a cast of colorful characters, only one of which was developed. Nonetheless, now this region exists in Galen and can be visited and built upon for many sessions to come!

What's the lesson? Collaborate with your players. The best time to do this isn't before the campaign begins or before a certain session: it's during gameplay! While everyone is wild around the table, minds turning, is when the greatest spurts of creativity leap from us. Don't let them go to waste.

Crates, Oil, and Combat

The first large combat of the campaign was set in the basement of a warehouse held by a corrupted gang. It started on a ramp slicked with oil and ended in a large room filled with stacked crates that formed barricades and small towers. The enclosed, trap-laden area forced the party to innovate and led to a few hijinks. Luna tried to clear the oil with prestidigitation, but much of the party ended up sliding down the oiled ramp to rush into the fray. Jason Urso used his whip to catch a torch flung at the oil, stopping it from being lit on fire. Ignis maneuvered onto the crate stacks with his wings and flung halflings and elves to the ground. I think the mix of barrels, oil, and chance for flame made the encounter exciting, and had my players critically thinking until their victory.

What should be learned from this? Always give your combats multiple parts. Sure, when you first begin running D&D, basic encounters with 6 goblins, an open field, and the party may suffice; soon after, though, you'll want to incorporate more elements. Add environmental factors. Give your enemies character. Pepper the encounter with secondary objectives.

A Warforged Ally

Deep in that same warehouse, the party made an ally out of an enemy. Instead of killing the poor warforged, they incapacitated and spoke to him calmly. He explained he was only here because of the coin, and wasn’t actually involved in the death of anyone. He simply made killers; he was an artificer who forged iron defenders. The party decided to convince him to come with them to their home base, the Faded Ember Inn, and start making a few iron defenders to protect the things they treasure. In addition, the warforged (named Blast) helped Luna learn a special type of sleep spell: it only worked on constructs!

What can be gleaned from this? Not all enemies need to be evil; in fact, they can become allies.

The Traitor Discovered

In a session that centered around meeting the entirety of one of the noble houses in Galen, House Coresaw, the party discovered a traitor in the family. I knew he was a traitor the entire time and while a few hints had flown their way, I never expected the reveal to occur in front of his entire family and to materialize so rapidly. Really, it was a flurry of events and an act of pure genius by the players and their characters. Using a combination of clever roleplaying, spectacular insight, touching the traitor’s buttons in the right way, and a perfect usage of zone of truth, they routed this traitor and sent him into the custody of Galen’s elite guard: the Eldritch Knights. Every moment their case built and built, with and without my help. They did a great job. The full scene was so beloved by me I gave the entire party inspiration after it.

How can you use this in your games? Go with the flow. Even if you planned for a key piece of information to be revealed far later in your campaign, let it escape early. If the characters are clever enough to figure it out, reward them.

Next Up with Caught in Galen

Soon, I’ll return and recount the remainder of the sessions so that we can catch up to the live campaign. Until then, check out the Caught in Galen Campaign Compendium. It’s a living document that recounts every session and every NPC in the campaign.

Until next time, stay creative!

First time reading RJD20? Begin here, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, and join the discussion in the comments below.

Consider picking up my first supplement, Villain Backgrounds Volume I on the Dungeon Masters Guild. It helps fund D&D supplements of the future.

Provide any feedback or inquiries to @RJD20Writes on Twitter or rjd20writes@gmail.com via email. 

Art credit: Volo's Guide to Monsters (WOTC).

Tense Social Situations, Secret Storylines, and Splitting the Party

After a week break for the holiday and a trip to Michigan’s upper peninsula, the Caught in Galen campaign resumed last Thursday. As I predicted last time we met about the campaign, it was a session without combat and it was stellar. Honestly, it was my ideal session of Dungeons & Dragons — I could go without combat for awhile, but I know my players are not the same way. This session marked the “thirteenth” of the campaign and the political intrigue and tension truly ramped up. Things are getting interesting in Caught in Galen.

I did not do much preparation for this session, as I knew most of it would be improvisational storytelling between the player characters and various NPCs. It was almost like a bottle episode in a sitcom; most of the session was confined to a tavern dear to some members of the party: the Faded Ember Inn. Nonplayer characters came and went, building onto the story with each passing second. Everyone in the group had their time to shine this session, and the trend of splitting the party in this wide open district continued. 

I learned a few things during this session, ideas I think anyone reading this will be able to implement into their games.

1. Social situations can be just as tense as combat.
2. Secret storylines can still be showcased in front of the players and not their characters.
3. Splitting the party in a city campaign happens often and is okay...at least for a time.

Before we dive in, if you would like to follow along with the campaign week by week or check out the various characters in its cast, check out the Caught in Galen Campaign Compendium. It is a great way to keep track of each session and the numerous characters who appear in a campaign or adventure.

Let’s delve into Caught in Galen Session 4: Beside Faded Embers. If you would like to see my pre-written notes of the session, they can be found here (players, don’t look!): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1--Th3u0oM8iP7k2Uv7D6mPqf0Q8Acbp8ozxVYj5JB3I/edit?usp=sharing

The Zaburk Confrontation

The session began in the Faded Ember Inn, the entire party gathered together. They spoke about the ordeal in Coresaw’s Tower and what to do next: would they search for Andhere and Esegar? Would they go to meet others who might be involved in this mess? Would they wait for their contact Rasdrak to arrive? Their discussion was interrupted by the arrival of High Priest Zaburk, a half-orc cleric who’d recently risen to the highest rank of the nearby temple of Anubis. He had complicated relationships with most of the characters, and some of them thought he was behind not only the undead disaster at Coresaw’s Tower, but the death of the former high priest — a beloved individual. In the doorway of the inn, first Ignis and then Roy of Riverside confronted the half-orc. Zaburk demanded Roy retract a statement he made to the Galen Tales, one of the journalism outlets in Galen. At first, Roy refused and basically spat on Zaburk. The half-orc kept calm and revealed the temple had one of Roy’s friends from the Hidhuntre Clan in custody. This radically changed the already tense situation. Roy didn’t change his demeanor, but did change his mind, and the encounter slowly faded to a simmer. Roy would retract the statement he made to Oreo Belwiggin before tomorrow’s paper went out, and his friend, a dragonborn named Blaze, would be given back to him when the paper came out...not badmouthing the temple of Anubis or Zaburk.

This was a stellar encounter. There was no combat, but there was tension. Everyone was listening, paying attention to every word said by Zaburk, Ignis, Roy, and the other participant, a kobold priest named Dimhaz. I knew there had to be some sort of power dynamic between the party and Zaburk, he needed to assert dominance in some way. Originally, I was going to have him push past Ignis and grab a stool off a tabletop (the inn was closed at the time, thanks to him). However, Ignis wouldn’t let the half-orc in, but he did not want to start a fight. That’s when Blaze’s capture and ransom came to my mind; it worked out so well. I’m excited to see where the Zaburk-party relationship will go...

Outside Listening In

A fantastic moment in the session was between me and one other player, his character’s name Jason. As everyone returned to their room’s and homes for the night, Jason and I created an awesome narrative that caused the other players to hoot & holler. In his session zero, Jason fought a gazer (a tiny, tiny beholder) and killed it, but was unable to dispose of the body. Thus, it was stored in a bucket of cold water in his room, covered by a blanket, blood still on the floor. So, when he finally returned to his room this session, I stated “You enter your chambers and cross the bloodstained carpet. A terrible smell wafts from where the body sits. What are you going to do with it, if anything?” Immediately, multiple players started laughing hysterically, thinking one of their party members had a dead body in his room. What secrets was he hiding from them? What ensued was a hilarious chain of events between Jason’s player and I that involved disposing of the body.

Despite none of the other player characters being involved, everyone felt like they were included in this moment; it was something they were drawn into, interested in, despite it really not involving any of their characters. It was a fantastic moment and what I strive for every time I have an aside with another player. Sometimes, people take these moments off the table and go into private. I don’t think that’s necessary.

Split Again, the Joys of the Internet

The culmination of the session saw the splitting of the party, yet again. Roy, Ignis, and Luna headed back to the Faded Ember Inn with Blaze, the dragonborn saved from the temple of Anubis. Flux was moving toward the Cobalt Forge guild hall to meet with his guild members about the many issues at hand. Jason was investigating the former high priest’s office as the entirety of the temple of Anubis, including Zaburk, was deep in prayer. The session was over at the table, yes, but was to be continued via the internet. Using Facebook Messenger, Flux moved to his guild’s hall and spoke to a contemplative stone half-giant about the villain at hand, Varmin, and the mysterious crimson metal used to fill Coresaw’s Tower with undead. From there, he went to the Red Tower and spoke to a warforged guard named Contort about a young human fellow before heading back to the Faded Ember Inn. In the temple of Anubis, Jason attempted to gain some intel on Zaburk in his new office. He managed to find a few interesting things, including a bloody club, a strange tadpole, and a secret passage below the temple, but he was caught by Zaburk somehow and saved by a lithe creature whose skin was made of the starry night sky. Where did he wake up/appear? Outside the Faded Ember Inn.

I’ve discovered running a city campaign in which the characters have various connections leads to the party splitting quite a bit. I’m fine with it, especially since these encounters are usually just some roleplaying and can be done between sessions using the internet. However, I expect this will lessen as time goes on, the stakes grow, and the party will need to stick together to survive. For the time being, though, I’m enjoying the numerous plot threads intertwined in the vast city of Galen.

In Summary

This campaign is fast becoming the favorite I’ve ever run. I’m learning more and more with each session and the story is developing at a rapid rate. As I said before, I learned the following from Beside Faded Embers:

1. Social situations can be just as tense as combat.
2. Secret storylines can still be showcased in front of the players and not their characters.
3. Splitting the party in a city campaign happens often and is okay...at least for a time.

Who knows what I’ll learn next session. I’m certain it will be just as great as this one, if not greater. I’ll let you know how it goes next week.

Until then, stay creative!

Eager for more RJD20? Begin here, subscribe to the RJD20 newsletter, and explore RJD20 videos on YouTube.

Check out Villain Backgrounds Volume I, a supplement that crafts compelling villains.

Please send inquiries to rjd20writes@gmail.com.

Caught in Galen's Baby Steps

The Caught in Galen campaign is officially underway. Last time I updated you all, we were about to partake in an altogether session zero; that went well. We discussed what Caught in Galen should and should not be, established starting variant rules, and built pieces of the world and characters in real time. After that, we played sessions one, two, and three of the campaign. The first session was held online and the next two were played in person. Every session so far has blown away my expectations. These players are phenomenal and are sincerely enjoying the baby steps of Caught in Galen. From socializing with a stern but respectful with a massive blue mohawk, to battling a small horde of varied (human, halfling, elf, dragonborn, genasi) zombies in a tight hallway, everyone has had a stellar time.

Let’s dive into each of the sessions and see if there’s anything interesting to gleam from them. Linked will be the notes for each session I prepared beforehand. Be careful, though, this campaign has already seen lots of improvisation and tons of tossed notes: just how I like it.

If you want to follow along with the campaign, week by week, check out the Caught in Galen Campaign Compendium. It has all the NPCs, session summaries, and information about the party, among other things, inside of it.

Session 0: Welcome to Galen

After a one-on-one session with each member of the party, this was the third time everyone was getting together. At this point, we’d already played two prologue sessions, so people were familiar with each other, but not “friendly.” During this session zero, we overviewed the many variant rules we’d be using. One by one, we eliminated or approved rules, discussing why or why not they’d improve the atmosphere or fun at the table. Of the nixed rules was the vile and extended lingering wounds chart. The wounds of these chart included losing a leg, losing a few fingers, getting an ear chopped of, and having a stomach cut open, among other terrible inflictions. Altogether, we decided we did not want to begin with this table, especially since the enemies rolled so many more times against the characters and had many more opportunities to “gift” the characters with these horrendous wounds. Overall, I agreed. Instead of this, we instilled a different rule that punished going down: every time a character went down and was raised using healing, they were to gain a level of exhaustion. This, ideally, would make combat more punishing, encouraging characters to be strategic and manage their hit points intelligently.

After the variant rules, I asked everyone what they wanted the campaign to be and what they did not want in it. The former we all agreed upon, the latter was left rather blank; everyone in the group was mature and understood any touchy subject included in the campaign (slavery, torture, explicit romance, etc) would be included because it was important to the story. Everyone understood I as a storyteller was not gratuitous or out to hurt the players in my game. We closed the session zero with a discussion of what the players wanted to see and a growth of the characters. I asked them a variety of questions such as: what monsters do you want to see?, where do you want to go?, and what artifacts might be found? They all loved it, and I am eager to include their suggestions in the campaign. Suggestions included astral giants, eldritch horrors, previous player characters, and places from past campaigns. As for the character building, that was by far the shortest part because most of the character backgrounds were already made and ready to go. It was simple and quick, and nicely led into the first session of the campaign, titled Let the Guilty Rise.

Welcome to Galen was the culmination of all the session zeros and prologues. This was, by far, the most “pre campaigning” I’d ever done for a D&D campaign, but I think it was well worth it. The prologue sessions allowed the players to feel out each other and interact before the campaign began, as well as get introduced to the world and first villain of the campaign personally. Alongside those, the session zeros allowed me to understand each player and character, what was important to them, and how to tie them into the main plot well. It all worked out. I completely understand people who state that it’s too much, why would I do this, or that I’m insane for playing this much before a campaign. I’ve played campaigns with zero prep, a bit of prep, a decent amount of prep, and then this. So far, since I had the time (thanks, COVID-19) I like this method. In the future, though, I have a feeling (with kids & such), I will not be able to do this. Regardless, it was great and was a unique way to kickstart a D&D campaign.

Session 1: Let the Guilty Rise

Caught in Galen’s first session was a bloody success.

Here are its notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pp3jdPVNFii829rUxZvUfMvQbtdQeKgHiqKZMd8sDtk/edit?usp=sharing

All of the characters met outside a grand tower amidst a violent, artificially created lightning storm. Some of them already knew each other, either from brief meetings or the shared dream. Eventually, they made their way into Coresaw’s Tower, led by a respectful and serious dwarf with a bright blue mohawk. Inside, they spoke at great length about conflicts boiling in Galen and Vorici’s Rest, and individual rewards to each of the party members were they to help the Coresaw brothers: Andhere and Esegar in secret. The party and the brothers came to an agreement when explosions shook the tower and spread a foul, thick blood fog inside and around it. The group fought to stay up but the world went dark; unable to fight back, they saw Andhere and Esegar taken by a vile half-flesh, half-warforged creature. When they woke up, they discovered undead were now rampant in Coresaw’s Tower. Determined to break out, they began their descent down the tower and made an ally in a raucous halfling fighter named Preston Fairfields.

This session went great. I tried to improve on callbacks during it, and was able to make quite a few: references to past characters in the campaign, backstories, and even old campaigns. It contained all three pillars of D&D: combat, exploration, and roleplay, from the battle with an acidic half-orc zombie to the discovery of an arcane-trapped chest. For a brief moment, I did steal agency from the characters to set-up the opening arc of the campaign with the deadly fog — I scarcely do that. Afterward, I asked them how they felt about it and I received a positive reaction: they felt helpless and now despise the creature — Varmin — that took the Coresaw brothers. That’s an absolute success in my eyes.

Session 2: Guided by Blood

I’ve never had a deadlier second session than Guided by Blood.

Here are its notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ta9hgwUJCKHm0663wJswJz8B_MibRtbj6U38pENyS80/edit?usp=sharing

With the halfling fighter as their guide, the party explored the horrific Coresaw’s Tower. Dead guards, undead, annihilated chambers, clues to how the tower was ruined, and torn art pieces were what they found, until nearly finding the secret door to the main level. In a single file hallway, they fought a bloody battle against zombies, skeletons, and a ghast captain named Glory — the husk of a former paladin. They were outmaneuvered by the ghast, surprised by reinforcements, and surrounded, causing four casualties. Luckily, using speed spells and barricades, they managed to lock themselves in a chamber, away from the undead. In the chamber, they planned a way to escape and met with a goblin named Xing, someone who’d already been acquainted with one of the party members: Flux. Conversations between the party and the goblin were heated, but their singular goal remained the same: escape Coresaw’s Tower alive.

The majority of this session was a deadly battle in a tight corridor and a large dining hall. Two characters nearly died and two others were making death saving throws. However, it was a situation they put themselves in, and I’m proud of what happened. They knew I was going to be more tactical and throw smarter foes at them — this was choreographed in game and out — they should have seen it coming (in fact, one of them did). Most of the party thoroughly enjoyed the battle, both during the session and after it — I could tell by watching but I asked them about it as well. They also loved that one of the PCs from the prologue, Glory, was an enemy in the campaign; they were prepared to take him out. During this session, I wanted to improve on chase encounters, but that’s not what happened! Instead, it turned into a tactical meat grinder where undead awaited the party on all sides and they had to push their way out of a terrible situation. They succeeded.

Session 3: Deal or Death

Already in the third session of the campaign, I pulled the famous “throw away all your notes” show as the Dungeon Master.

Here are its notes, though they don’t show anywhere near the whole story: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K8ZcXY59zvxuuwmSVwJtclU_L-f1G7-je-e929flyFQ/edit?usp=sharing

Barricaded in a wide chamber with a massive broken window, the party hatched a plan: Flux would channel divinity from Moradin and create a 500 foot long ladder to scale the tower while Roy and Ignis steadied it against the stone. Meanwhile, Jason, Luna, Xing, and Preston would guard the blocked door. It was an insane but possible plan! As an hour passed by, Glory tried to parley with the group for Flux, the warforged was all Varmin wanted now. The group refused and, as the ladder was finished, Glory sent undead to break through the barricades. Roy and Ignis stayed to guard the party, shoving stone pedestals down a long staircase at a zombie minotaur and other undead creatures. The rest of the group climbed down the harrowing ladder, dodging clouds of crimson fog and escaping near falls in dramatic fashion. Ignis and Roy fought in a truel with Glory; Roy eventually pushed the ghast out the window, sending the undead paladin to his ultimate death. As the group reached the bottom of the ladder, they were surrounded by the press of Galen and bombarded with questions. They quickly broke off from each other and the press, leaving Preston behind, promising to meet at the Faded Ember Inn at nightfall. Flux and Xing went to his smithy. Luna went to the Temple of Anubis to meet Hermione, then to the Pale Glow Headquarters to try and get her job back. Ignis met in secret with Shishotile, his Trikaani Assembly informant. Roy made way to the Faded Ember Inn immediately and passed out in its owner’s arms. Jason spoke with Athelmod Coresaw, the guard captain, and traveled to the Sapphire Climb to meet with Crizendomon, learning a dark but useful truth. In the end, they all headed to the Faded Ember Inn…

Another great session! I did not expect it to go the way it did. About five minutes in, I tossed my notes to the side and asked the players to bring it on. Miraculously, I made the ladder encounter interesting, as well as the interaction between Roy, Ignis, Glory, and Glory’s necrotic falchion. When they made it out of the tower — way earlier than I expected — they spoke with a variety of people and split off to different areas of Vorici’s Rest. Everyone took it quite well; I gave everyone rather equal time (except Roy, who passed out quickly) and attention and ensured everyone was okay with splitting the group like this. I suppose I should have expected that if they’re in a city with so many opportunities before them, they were likely to split. As long as they reunite quickly and everyone is having a good time, I think it’s okay. Regardless of this split, everyone thought this was another stellar session and a good way to end the campaign for a week’s time.

In Summary

I am incredibly pleased with how Caught in Galen is going. As we head into this one week break (I am heading up north for a few days), everyone is eagerly awaiting the fourth session: Beside Faded Embers. I expect this session to be the first without any combat, a slow and steady three and a half hour of roleplay and exploration that will include an encounter with one of the early antagonists of Caught in Galen, their name not revealed because my players might be reading this. I’m ready to go, to keep improving, and to continue developing the already interesting and in-depth story of Caught in Galen.

Until next time, stay creative!

Eager for more RJD20? Begin here, subscribe to the RJD20 newsletter, and explore RJD20 videos on YouTube.

Check out Villain Backgrounds Volume I, a supplement that crafts compelling villains.

Please send inquiries to rjd20writes@gmail.com.

Galen's Final Session Zero is Near

Tomorrow, I’ll be running Caught in Galen’s final session zero. It’s an altogether session during which me and the players will establish certain rules about the world and the game, build sections of Galen that are wholly unknown, and flesh out aspects of the campaign they want to see. Between the last Tales of Galen article and now, I finished a year and a half long D&D campaign, the Karlith Straits, and ran multiple session zeros, some one-on-one, one other an experimental session that took place entirely in a dream.

The campaign hasn’t officially started, but I already know it’s going to be great.

The preparation has slowed down as it draws nearer and nearer. I have the opening moments of the first session prepared, as well as a broad layout of the campaign and its villain ready-to-go, but that’s it.

Those three things are incredibly important to have for a campaign’s start: the opening scene, a broad layout, and an idea of the primary villain.

You really want to grab your players during the kickoff of the campaign. That’s something I’ll be exploring very soon.

You want to know how the campaign might play out. What would happen if the characters weren’t there? Now that they’re going to be joining in, what might happen? How do their backstories relate to the main plot? Are they the main plot? With Caught in Galen, I’m really trying to incorporate the backgrounds of the player characters into the high level story we’ll be telling. I hope it goes well — I really think it will.

You need to know, generally, who or what the villain will be. Are they a singular entity? Are they a cult? A mercenary group? A god? How do they relate to each of the characters? How can I foreshadow them in the campaign’s opening moments? Lots can change between the first session and the campaign’s conclusion, but conjuring an image of the antagonist is important. It can help you set a tone for the first few sessions, the first threat, and make you look like a genius when all the pieces are placed together perfectly. It doesn’t matter if the pieces started out that way or were made along the way. All you need is that initial segment of the puzzle to build on. That’s what the antagonist should be.

Hopping over to the experimental session zero...it was amazing. Me and three players went through it and they all had a blast. Their characters met in a dreamscape, brought together by some unknown entity, and braved extreme environments. And, of course, they met an important individual, the catalyst of the entire campaign, the human who was assassinated: Calastis Starcloak. What are the implications of that?

Well, we’ll have to see.

I’m excited for the final session zero tomorrow and the awesome first moments next Thursday. Caught in Galen, I’m certain, will be my greatest campaign yet.

Until next time, stay creative!

Eager for more RJD20? Begin here, subscribe to the RJD20 newsletter, and explore RJD20 videos on YouTube.

Check out Villain Backgrounds Volume I, a supplement that crafts compelling villains.

Please send inquiries to rjd20writes@gmail.com.