Let’s Not Do That Again

Auroria December 27th Day 1184

What follows is a tale of both success and failure. One in which I practice what I preach and also fall prey to the same pitfalls I ridicule regularly.

It all started with the players DEAD SET on playing lawful good PCs and seeking retribution against the Druids for kidnapping (and killing) people from New Leptos. Harald the Handsome had inherited an Arrow of Direction some time ago and not many people were privy to this, so he used it to track the druids to their exact location. He was accompanied by a small army of other LG heroes of note: Bertilak, Gunther, and some new faces as well.

The Druids spent their downtime charming pet crocodiles and training them to defend the druids. This was very helpful because it balanced the combat and gave the LG players who didn’t have a Druid to pilot something to do when the Neutral party had its turn.

Tracking the Druids was a non-issue with that magic item, so let’s skip ahead to the direct confrontation between the two factions and discuss from the Referee’s perspective what happened and why everyone is scratching their head about this type of pvp.

Before the battle began, I discussed how a direct confrontation between the two parties was going to result in, and I quote, “an absolute bloodbath”. There were many moving parts, and I needed help keeping track of everything, but most importantly, I needed the players to slow me down and if they ever felt like anything was unfair, we needed to address it in the moment. People still got their feelings hurt. Checking in ahead of time does literally nothing to ease the sting of PC loss. Noted.

No party was surprised and initiative came up…a tie. Great! Now instead of a clear distinction between the parties, everything is happening simultaneously and of course, it can’t just be easy lol.

Almost all the declared spells in the combat were disrupted except the most potent: Sleep. It dropped three of the four druids right away. The druids were basically out except for a single successful Heat Metal, which did finish off Bertilak once and for all. Gunther cut down the last Druid. Only the animal companions did anything after that (and for a majority of the combat I general) and they were very brutal.

After the dust settled, the entire druid party of four level 2s were killed. Bertilak, Eldrick, and Harald the Handsome were killed by pets and some residual Heat Metal effects.

And this was incredibly boring. First, I was sick the entire time, low energy DMing. Then the combat was a confusing mess with multiple tied initiatives. The kills were mostly all done by NPCs and monster pet companions, aside from Romulus’ very cool strike against Saorbreathache. That is so lame. The action wasn’t even character focused. We were doing theater of the mind, so players weren’t always aware of positioning. And worst of all, nothing was left of the campaign after the battle. 90% of the campaign was killed in just a few rounds, and it just wasn’t worth it.

There were others at the table who had a blast. I don’t want to diminish this. We were split down the middle and their idea of fun matters too. But for me, it was a ton of work, boring in execution, and devastating to the campaign milieu in its after math. Others were upset about their PCs dying, but I really can’t help with that part. AD&D is a deadly game so everyone needs to accept that. Your PCs will die, but hopefully, it won’t be in this way (uninspiring) ever again.

The survivors were a few PCs with about two hours of in-world experience and Romulus who was carried away on a stretcher. New Leptos is devastated and has no way to defend itself against the encroaching threats. Aggencourt has opened its gates to all refugees and we will be starting mostly fresh from there. The Town Elders have voted and New Leptos and its population of women, children, and aging are caravanning to the nearby town January 3rd. They arrive in Aggencourt on January 10th (hopefully). I’ll let you know how that rolls out.

Braunsteins with factions, patrons, or brand new characters have proven to be so fun in the past. Multiple top-notch experiences, but it seems there is an inverse relationship with the length of time invested in a character and the amount of fun experienced in pvping with them. We are going to lean more into faction level pvp, 1 on 1 pvp, single session braunsteins, and avoid this many PCs clashing in direct violent combat. It’s just meh compared to the alternatives…unless the players insist.

**Note All XP gains cap at next level. Example: Fighter 1 has 1200 XP from previous sessions, and he is awarded another 1,000 XP for the current session, he caps at 2000 for level 2. No additional XP can be gained until your next level is trained. I can’t track everyone’ individual XP totals, so y’all self manage please.

Grades:

Romulus LG Human Fighter Level 1. Superb. He charged into the fray, actually killed another player and delivered justice with his amazing magical sword. Can’t get top marks if you didn’t stay on your feet though. XP:2,500 GP: 1,700. Needs a number of days in bed rest equal to his negative HP plus 1 for each day until max HP. I didn’t track this sadly.

Zhonxeena LG Human MU Level 1. Superb. He played smart and avoided the fray. He made himself useful to the party by loading crossbows, but you can’t earn Exceptional as a MU if you don’t cast a spell that affects the game in some way. XP: 2,500 GP: 1,700

Rurik LG Human MU Level 1. Superb. Killer spell went off and won the LG party the fight. Would get exceptional but cannot be the best score if you go down. XP: 2,500 GP: 1,700. Needs a number of days in bed rest equal to his negative HP plus 1 for each day until max HP. I didn’t track this sadly.

Warren LG Human Fighter Level 1. Exceptional. He fought the monsters. He tried protecting Rurik by standing next to him. He delivered justice to the heretics. And most importantly, the player helped the DM by looking up rules during play. Don’t over think the choice between saving Bertilak and destroying the druids. Who cares which is the more LG decision?? I would have downgraded you if you had chosen the other way around. You are a fighter. You fight first. XP: 2,500 GP: 1,700.