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Campaign Journal... sort of

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Malek Deneith:
Soooo... yeah. As some know I'm a bit of RPG person, and my latest favourite system is 4e. Over half a year a go (hot damn, that much time passed already?) in attempt to sate my thirst for 4e I've offered (on another board) to do something I normally don't do - DM a game, a pre-made module to be more specific. It turned out better than expected and few days ago it got resurrected after a month of break I took.

Now by this point you're probably wondering where all is heading - to put things simply I've seen people do "journals" from their games a few times and decided to do something similar for sake of lulz. So be prepared for seeing some comments and rant on how my "party" is doing... at least as long as I can manage to care :P Maby something good will come of it...


0) Some general info

Like I said I for most part don't DM. I personally feel I don't have skills to be a "proper" DM... but at the same time from my point of view 4e is easier on newbie DMs and the deal was running a module - a game that has most stuff made ready to go. As most of 4e pre-mades this one is, errr, classic in feel - in other words it offers much dungeons and much combat. I know there are people that scoff such kind of game, but the people who play PBF in question took it with good humor - they treat the game lightly and don't seem to mind the combat - and I in turn try to make as much of non-combat encounters as I can.

And my party aside the big amount of combat in 4e isn't a bad thing. 4e is all about combat and doesn't try much to hid it - instead it focuses about making combat fun. If you prefer other styles of play, and dislike 4e for that don't go out of your way just to post "4e sucks", "4e is WoW" or something like that - just enjoy games you play ;)

But I am rambling, moving on...

...

Oh, and for the record the module in question is "Keep on the Shadowfell" - a freely downloadable introductionary 4e module

1) Meet the sandvitch party

A word on the players and their characters. There were some changes in their ranks, I'll try to describe both present and past members a bit

Current roster

Amber (Race: Shadar-kai. Class: Rogue. Player: Irinka) - Party's "female factor" - she's quite a good roleplayer and takes a humorous approach at her roleplaying which is nice. Originally she was the person with most problems with mechanic side of play, she has shown much improvement since then - she still gimps herself a bit here and there but a gentle nudge or two should eliminate the problems... I hope. Iri has fell in love with deity called Emo Raven Queen a goddess of fate, winter and death hence the race - shadar-kai are a 4e race with close relations to Raven Queen. This character is relatively new to the group, she previously played Rahimat, but dropped the character as apparently she herself didn't like how Rahimat played out.

Karras (Race: Warforged. Class: Warlord. Player: Xander_Morhaime) - our very own X is taking part in my game as a slightly frustrated tin-can of a warlord and party's first and for long time only healabot. I don't think I need to talk about Xander's RP-ability - just check out Machine Spirit or Morey if you need to. Skill aside Karras has a bit trouble with his party - for one others seem to have issues with wrapping their minds around a "living golem" as part of the group, and the tactical coordination in the group so far isn't which leaves Xander with limited combat options most of the time. Still he's there and he's doing a good job whether they like it or not. And he's the only one to ever express interest in carrying the monetary gains (nobody cared about splitting so far), which might lead to interesting consequences in future.

Racimir (Race: Human. Class: Paladin (of Kord). Player: popkiev) - Sir gets-ganged-upon-a-lot, whifs-a-lot, and main speaker of the party (though the last might change with coming of Ragenthank). That one is a bit odd - his grasp on the rules is fluid sometimes (one time he gets stuff right from the start, other times I have to remind him the basics). Likewise with RP - some of his posts are quite goods, but he a few not so good (the most memorable being his first post, and first PBF post in general which went more or less like that: "So I'm marching ahead with steady stride". End.). One thing is sure, he still has much to learn about being meatshield defender - for one he never used his Divine Challenge feature, even once (a power that is supposed to make monsters keep on him rather than squishies) - though to be honest he takes most damage on him anyway :D Wielder of team's first magic item - the "mighty" Reproachful Warhammer +1

Ragenthank (Race: Goliath. Class: Cleric (of Kord). Player: Kuge) - second of my close friends (Xander being the other if you haven't guessed), another good roleplayer, much needed second healabot and master powergamer in one. He's the kind of guy that could make a broken character in a system that uses rock-paper-scisors as combat resolution, but at the same time given enough motivation he could probably write a 10-page background for a chesspiece. He's been the highest damage dealer in the party since he arrived, and due to some ungodly luck barely taken any damage himself so far. He also livens up the roleplaying, and helps me push things right way sometimes :P Trivia: He was originally called Ragentak, but added the second "n" as *everybody* misspelled the name.

Wilfire (Race: Human. Class: Ranger. Player: Verdin) - my personal headache. It's not like I have something against the guy, but his entry post (which included roleplaying other characters for them), unexplainable tendency to always make human ranges (there have been a few side games in the meantime) and the horrible, horrible name make me uneasy. At least he seems to know his mechanics fairly well - not much more to add now as he just entered.

Past members

Leif Erikson (Race: Human. Class: Wizard. Player: wenanty) - nicely played character. Wenanty knew what he wanted to do mechanics-wise and used his character effectively in combat, and roleplayed quite nicely. Sadly he disappeared at one point from the forums and haven't been seen since. Replaced by Ragenthank.

Rahimat Nazarbajew (Race: Half-elf. Class: Avenger (of Raven Queen). Player: Irinka) - Irinka's previous character. She had some problems with mechanics, mostly due to Iri insisting on using basic attacks instead of at-wills (for those unfamiliar - base attacks use strength or dexterity depending on whether they are melee or ranged for determining accuracy and are just that - basic "hits" to use when you *can't* use anything else. At wills use the stat that is considered "main" for the class and usually provide additional benefits. Since Avenger "works" of wisdom and thus the character had minimal strength the result was that Rahimat couldn't hit a broad side of barn). Character wise Rahimat was high-and-mighty, arrogant and annoying so much that Iri herself decided to stop playing her. Replaced by Amber.

Tello (Race: Elf. Class: Druid. Player: Telp) - hard to say much here. The character was built fine, and worked quite well, but the player had limited "online" time and when he was on to post he usually posted... little. In other words his posts were minimal even by my standard. In the end he also disappeared from face of forums. Killed off and replaced by Wilfire.

Closing note: If you haven't figured it out by now the players are mostly new to this and the party as it is still has major teamwork issues... and some bad luck too. Anyway hopefully somebody finds my ramblings bearable, or even interesting - more (as in actually rambling about the sessions themselves) when/if I feel like it.

Journey:
Keep going with this, if you don't mind.  I may get into GM'ing myself, so seeing others' experiences will be useful.

Madtrixr:
I agree with Journey. It's always awesome to hear what goes on during a campaign.

Silhar:
Mmmh. I'm certain this is going to be interesting.
Waiting for the first chapter to be revealed. ;>

Malek Deneith:
Soooo... yeah...


Wait I'm having deja-vu, bad sign

* Malek Deneith resets the Matrix
Soooo... yeah...

Damn it...

2) Role that matters, part 1: Leaders

Been thinking, and I figured out that if I tried to cover only what happened in the PBF I'd run out of stuff quick - PBFs have that nasty feature of being slow. So instead you'll be getting a mix of "what happened to the party" mixed with "rambling about random 4e-related stuff". For a start a series about class roles. What are roles? Well they are what they sound they are - WotC decided to describe each and every class with one of four roles: Defender (the guy up in the front that makes sure scary monsters don't go and eat wizard first), Leader (the person that keeps "guy in the front" alive), Striker (single-target specialists, designed to pick a target and make him dead fast) and Controller (AoE-using minion sweeping and debuffs are this role's thing).

I decided to go with Leaders first because, due to some strange twist, out of all five (mostly short-lived) characters I got to play so far three were a leader of one sort or another. With exception of Controllers, each role gets some sort of mechanic that is shared throughout the classes it's composed of - for Leaders this mechanic is a power (known as <adjective> Word in all ceases except Artificer and Shaman) allowing a target to spend a healing surge, usually with some sort of bonus. Healing surges sort of heal-per-day limiter - each character has set amount of these to spend for a day, and each times one is spent you regain a quarter of your hp. These can be used freely outside of combat, but during combat usually the only option is to use so-called "second wind" which takes a standard action and can be done once per encounter. Leader "Word" powers allow for recovery of more than usual amount per surge and can be used twice per encounter (thrice at later levels, but never more than once per round) as a minor action which makes Leaders very valuable. There exist other powers allowing for spending healing surges, and even some that heal without surge usage, but in the end most of them end up in the hands... yeah, you guessed it - Leaders.

Cleric (Power source: Divine, Book: PHB) - Cleric is the benchmark when it comes to healing, especially after introduction of Divine Power supplement. They come with inbuilt feature called "Healer's Lore" which boosts the healing done based on one of their primary attributes. They also boast a large number of additional encounter-based healing powers, good number of feats revolving around boosting their Healing Word and a Cure <adjective> Wounds series that - while all of them being daily - provides surge-less healing. There are two major builds for a cleric - a battle cleric that grabs a weapon and preferably a shield and dispenses his support from forefront or battle, and more "classic" back-row healer approach involving using ranged powers to attack enemies (known as "lazor" clerics in the community).

Warlord (Power source: Martial, Book: PHB) - whereas Cleric is the "heal" benchmark, Warlord is the prime "buffer" between leaders. Just by being around Warlords provide always-nice bonus to their party's initiative, and when their allies use action points to take more actions there is an additional effects depending on what flavor of Commanding Presence feature the Warlord took (there are five options currently and they range from "you will hit easier" to "take a risk - you hit and there's another action for you, you miss and the opponents will have easier time hitting you"). Warlords themselves fight upfront and pretty much any of their powers allows them to reposition their allies, give out some sort of bonus or grant an additional action for the party.

Bard (Power source: Arcane, Book: PHB2) - I admit that I didn't read this class as thoroughly as I could - I'm suffering from post-3e kneejerk reaction "Bards are bad". Well I've read enough to bring you this: They aren't. They seem to quite decent, and they look like they have quite a number of powers that persist longer time, and as bards should have bonuses to diplomacy.

Shaman (Power source: Primal, Book: PHB2) - Another class that I've skimmed over - Shaman feels a bit awkward to me, and looking over internet it seems that I'm not alone here: most people think Shaman needs a bit work to get into. As far as I gathered since Primal Power came out they became specialist at dispensing surge-less healing which looks handy. They also have a "spirit companion" which is needed for some of their powers to work - for example their Healing Spirit instead of healing one target more allows the primary target to spend a surge, and gives surge-less healing to the target near spirit companion.

Artificer (Power source: Arcane, Book: Eberron's Player Guide) - Ahh, Artificer - this Eberron specific leader is... specific. It almost approaches Cleric's status as prime healer, but for different reason. He doesn't have as much healing power, but his Healing Infusion has more flexability. For one it can be used in two ways: one is straight-up heal like other leaders have, the other gives the recipient small defensive bonus with option to end that bonus and gain temporary hit points (In number slightly lower than amount healed normally. There was also a third option that you could swap one of these for in some article, but i don't remember that one). And another fun thing is that Healing Infusions don't use up a healing surge: instead during short rest (when encounter powers normally recover) the artificer or another member of the party must spend a healing surge to recover Healing Infusions - if you still don't get the picture it essentially means that with this feature party "pools" their surges, meaning that their day doesn't end as soon as one of them starts nearing the end of surges. One other interesting feature of artificer is that he can re-power spent items with daily powers, such as wands. As far as their powers go Artificers have interesting pick: all of them are techno-magic flavored and vary from straight out attacks to attack-buffs to straight buffs to summoning mechanical contraptions to do work for them. Whether you want to throw technomagical gizmos from afar or inscribe your melee weapon or crossbow and use that or create small robots to fight for you artificer has options to allow you that.

3) Welcome to Winterhaven. For directions to old keeps, kobold lairs and taverns ask your guide.

And now for the meat - report of early parts of the game. The background was simple, using parts of "default setting" scarce lore - there was an ancient human Empire called Nerath that was going all well until it tripped and fell. Now an historian from city of Fallcrest (default city taken from DMG - should the party finish this module they might actually visit it... or not, we'll see) hires you to go to backwater city of Winterheaven and map old keep from times of Nerath found there (called Keep on the Shadowfell for some reason - not ominous, really). Payment - 250 golden eagles (I did take time to google/think off names for coins, but by now nobody probably cares myself included), simple and easy. I decided to skip "we are getting the job" part - mostly due to the fact that I'd have to make up that on the spot, and I didn't feel capable of pulling it right. In the end it might have been a good choice - seeing as the party reacts to eachother sometimes I'd have a good chance that they'd strangle themselves instead of forming a team.

Our "heroes" started well on the road and were given some time to chat around. Said chatting consisted mostly of bickering, and with one productive thought: the one that they are short on money (common issue for 1-st level adventurers I guess). Thankfully before any infighting begun they got ambushed by a group of kobolds - five minions, two dragonshields and a slinger.

--- He got got hit with a critical and still LIVES? WTF? What did you sent on me - Kobold Commando? ---
This beginning encounter is a bit weird - if you go by the fluff it should be an ambush - stealth checks, spot checks and all that - only it doesn't use ambush mechanics. In fact there is *another* ambush encounter in the module who exists for sole purpose of showing off how surprise attacks end up, which makes playing out this one straight bit problematic. In the end I decided minions pop-up and make themselves shown, while the others will become visible once their turn arrives. To be honest I also rerolled initiative, because the first result put all the party before the little buggers which could very well mean that bulk of the monsters would die before their turn. I also made knowledge checks for the party (most of which were failed) and dispensed the background info to those that passed them - a small thing, but appreciated by the players.

The combat begun with Karras successful charge and less successful one from Tello. Rahimat did nothing, only moving a bit, setting a theme of not really contributing to the party which would last until Iri's character swap. In return warforged got swarmed by remaining minions (note: kobolds are very shifty... it's really annoying to the players as it allows them to setup combat advantage easily), and a slinger which tried to nail him down with a gluepot but failed - instead he got hit with Leif's ice spell (not enough to bring him down, but enough to limit his mobility). Finally two dragonshields - kobolds armed with sword, shield and proper military training - appeared and immediately took the opportunity to flank Racimir and use the advantage it gives to wound him (sadly the lesson of useability of flanking is still largely lost to the party).

What followed was the games first critical - Racimir used a personal buff on himself, opened up with Piercing Strike encounter power, gleefully rolled a natural 20, thus dealing a grand total of 26 damage points to one of the kobolds flanking him. And learned to his horror that the critter is still standing, if barely. In turn that followed Karras and Tello continued to cut down the ranks of minions while Rahimat tried to take down the slinger - with no effect. Then in classic "moment of stupidity" Leif told Racimir to get out from between kobolds flanking him, then moved right next to both of them and unleashed a spell at one that Racimir wounded and got ruthlessly stabbed and brought to 0hp (though he did bring that one kobold down before that). He didn't stay down for long, for Racimir pulled out his daily power and with successful hit applied some healing to the wizard, but it seems that "making ranged attacks while being close to enemies" lesson got understood. The rest of the encounter was lacking interesting moments, and despite party getting hurt some more they were victorious and thus gained their first experience points. Taking what little gold they found on the bodies, along with leftover gluepots (Leif) and one shield made of dragonscale (Karras) they left again for Winterhaven, but not after discussing and not agreeing on party tactics.


And I'll end it here for today, I originally intended to cover Winterhaven itself but all that writing worn me out a bit.

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