Dinosaurs and cultists

[schneefink]

Wow, suddenly it's busy here! Hi new people! I usually try to post at least once a week but this past week I was busy with tax law. The exam went okay (I think) and the presentation went well and suddenly I have time to breathe again; so this weekend my brain promptly shut down all non-essential operations. (And I definitely didn't drink enough, oops.) At least the timing could have been worse.

I did manage to wake up yesterday evening, when we had another D&D session. (Background: I started playing D&D 3.5 in early 2016 and played 2.5 years as an arcane spellcaster, it was a great campaign. Then I decided to try my hand at DMing, just for a few sessions, and the campaign is now at 13 sessions and probably halfway done. It is occasionally stressful but everyone is having fun.)

I keep being nervous about not preparing enough, but fortunately my party is quite slow and then often doesn't get to the points I was worried about. For example, last week they made their way through the canyon of dinosaurs (I rolled and the dinosaurs were coldblooded so I added mountain lions in the night, and they befriended them) and then reached the oasis with the oasis keeper who could teleport them back to the city – but they weren't even suspicious of the oasis keeper, who then teleported them straight into the cellar of the Thieves' Guild, who'd left them in the canyon in the first place. Their faces were fantastic xD

This week they came to an agreement with the Thieves' Guild, and I even managed to stop one PC's thirst for revenge by having the Guild leader apologize (and make the Bluff check.) The Guild told the party that the professor they are looking for was kidnapped by a cult of a destruction deity, so they went to that monastery. Where they knocked on the front door, were told that the professor isn't there, were caught during recon, and are now unwilling to actually attack or do much damage to the monastery because they have no concrete proof and the cult isn't actually evil (hoping that The Great Destroyer will come and kill everyone isn't actually a crime as long as you don't do anything to help that arrival along.)
They already missed several other clues and I'm not sure how they'll find the professor if not with information from the monastery, but I'm sure it'll work out somehow? I'm getting good at improvising. At least now I have time to actually draw a map of the monastery main building, prepare that encounter a bit better. It looks like we might not find the time for another session until January because several players are on vacation at different times, that would be a shame.

Also, next time I'm DMing I might restrict the source books they can use ^^ They keep coming up with things I haven't heard about. The party now has an elf/Unseelie Fey Archivist/Runecaster, a Changeling Rogue/Swordsage/Warblade/Master of Masks, a human Artificer, and a human scout/bard/rogue and an elven druid, all level 7 or 8. I probably don't give them enough XP for most combat encounters but I'm afraid of what'll happen if they level more quickly… Ah well, I'll just need to get more creative with the bad guys/monsters *rubs hands*

Comments

[earlymorningechoes]

I totally have the "have I prepared enough?? Oh, the party's super slow, never mind" experience every session I DM (which is like...four, at this point, but that's more than one!).

Your campaign sounds really fun!

[schneefink]

It can be frustrating when they take a long time to come to decisions - but it's also a relief sometimes ;)

It is! (I do enjoy DMing but I also look forward to playing as a player again... in a few months.)

[earlymorningechoes]

I do enjoy DM'ing, but it's So Hard, and so much work outside of actual sessions. I'm also looking forward to getting to be a player again :)

[yuuago]

Glad to hear you've had some time to breathe. Sounds like you've been busy. ;)

[schneefink]

I was, and now it's just the normal Christmas preparations etc. to do, so that's better.