It's been a long time since I last wrote about my library Dungeons & Dragons campaign, but since it was only taking place once per month, it was moving slowly. I have now started running sessions twice a month, so things should speed up.
In the last post, we were just starting what was supposed to be a short adventure called A Boy and His Modron. Limited time, once-a-month game sessions, and nonsense conspired to draw that out for much longer. I also had absolutely insane attendance, and it just takes time to let 8-10 players do stuff. In the end, the party...
! [Hidden Spoiler Text] ...delivered the rogue modron safely to the portal, did not follow him to Sigil, and persuaded the boy to stay home and help his family.
While that was all going on, one player decided to try to romance one of the mooks they were supposed to murder. Always expect player shenanigans! That character is temporarily retired, and each session now includes a "roll for Stockholm syndrome" as she tries to woo her captive off-camera.
When it all wrapped up, they were offered a job by the totally legitimate businessman who owned the tavern in town. This shifted the story to a horror-themed adventure called The Remedy. Their first combat led to a new inside joke: taking the Dodge action is now "The Safety Dance."
Our fun and games aren't all fun and games for the characters, though. I am using the standard madness tables from the Dungeon Master's Guide. So far, characters have experienced all sorts of nasty short-term effects. Some have already accumulated enough to warrant possible long-term madness next session.
The players are also paranoid as I roll dice at random and choose suspiciously specific denials and other vague statements wherever possible. In contrast to that, I try to describe in gruesome detail the unnerving nature of the cursed city and the burning moon. They are also extra-nervous about the cursed inhabitants who have become monsters with strange mutations ranging from clawed hands to transforming into menacing bird-people.
They aren't sure how this curse/disease/whatever is transmitted yet, so they are torn between searching corpses like proper loot hound murder-hoboes and avoiding giving me opportunities to make them roll wisdom saves versus madness effects or constitution saves versus disease. One player is a Warforged, so he is leaning hard into his natural disease immunity, but curses have an effect. When he failed a roll versus madness, he decided being incapacitated and babbling madly sounded like dial-up modem noises.
So far, the players have met their noble patron in this district, chatted with the wounded dwarf warrior, and are working their way to the Radiant Church. We'll see what happens next. They aren't wounded too much, since my player count is much higher than intended in this module, but there are fates worse than death in Dungeons & Dragons...
Mwahahahahaha!
