The Daily Dungeon Master Blog

The Ingrates find themselves in a sticky situation returning to the infamous Luniaraysk! How will they end up dealing with that horrid town?

Dear Readers,

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Dear readers, here we are again with another painting update! Today, I got some highlighting done as well as painting his claws and nails. I’ll sign it up. Doing a little bit of touch-up work on his hands and fingers as I found spots that I missed. I did the teeth in what I can only say is a great job all things considered. Lastly, I painted the eyes a nice red with the vertical stripe.

See for yourself:

Isn’t he pretty?

I know I didn’t take the picture after I had it done, but his toe nails are also painted black.

I also made a decision as to how I’m going to deal with the basing. The friend of mine that did all the miniatures for the Ingrates will be doing the basing at my request. I want this guy and the other slaadi to be well done. I’m confident with the painting job, just not as much with the basing.

Next, we have our boy, Famine, who is a firbolg. Due to the fact that several of my players read this blog, I’m not saying anymore about him. But I do want to show the paint job. Here’s what I got:

Due to the fact that he is the incarnation of famine, I decided to go with a more moldy skin tone for him.

Personally, I think that it works very well. Apparently I have this propensity for taking pictures before. I’ve actually finished the miniature, so his legs aren’t showing having been painted. Believe me, they are painted. I plan on having more of him done by next week.

Well, that’s all I have for today. Thanks so much for joining me and don’t forget to hit that subscribe button!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

Dear Readers, it goes without saying that a party’s effectiveness relies on effective party leadership.

Trying to not give anything away, the following statement was said at last night’s game (the Ingrates):

“Dammit! _________’s been gone for not even one whole session and everything is already falling apart!” Or something to that effect.

The party leader is no longer…with the party. Again, not going to say who or why, as that will be some SERIOUS spoilers, but it’s left the group in serious disarray.

The group, upon reaching their destination (again, spoilers), stayed together for a bit, met some interesting NPCs, and then proceeded to SPLIT UP!

There’s a song for that actually called “Never Split the Party.” The group knows this song.

And the player who used to have the character who was the party leader is playing a brand new character, a never-before-seen character who is unique in a variety of ways, and is still establishing his character as even a member of the party. Sheesh, did I have multiple calls for insight checks. Brutal.

In any case, the party split between the Temple District, the Market Square, and the Library. Then, after some shopping, searching, and…pretty-fying…one of the groups came across a long-time foe, tried to track them down, and proceeded to get absolutely wrecked. Like…downed and two death failed death saves, type wrecked.

Thankfully, another character was nearby trying to keep up with this other wrecked character, and fed them a healing potion just in time.

It was brutal.

The party was absolutely pissed. Pissed at the aggressor, pissed at the character that got wrecked, and pissed at themselves for splitting up when they absolutely KNOW better, especially when this had bitten them in the backsides previously (this is in a previous edition of “A DM’s Perspective” when Avery got shanked).

To add insult to injury, in the next episode, the rest of “The 5” reappeared, killing several party members who were caught alone, or in small, more manageable groups, thus furthering and reinforcing the idea that the group is directionless.

So, what to do?

1. Encourage the election/assignment of a party leader
   
   This makes sure that there is someone to give direction to the party (since the party’s ship captain is unavailable as his player is currently engaging in other activities that take him away from the game table, and we are therefore making him the current Spelljammer, a.k.a., the pilot)
2. Help steer the party yourself
   
   As the DM, you have a lot of leeway when it comes to how you help engage the group. Don’t be afraid to use it. There are lots of ways to do this, but for me, one of the most effective ones is tossing an encounter at them. In the session following the one above, the party still seemed to be floundering with their leaderlessness, and to get them re-engaged in the tasks at hand, I tossed another encounter with several of “The 5.” THAT got them moving! Frankly, I didn’t care what direction they went in, I just wanted them to get moving.
3. Do nothing
   
   This is actually a very real option. Let them flounder until they get back on track themselves. I really considered doing this, but for the sake of the game and the podcast, I decided against it, using #2 above. There is a downside to this, as there is the very real possibility that some of the players may get bored and/or disinterested in the game.

Conclusion

Party cohesion is very important to the flow of the game and to the ability for a group of players/characters to work together. Without this, a party will flounder and get way off track, never advancing the storyline and possibly creating their own minor sidequests that have no bearing on the story whatsoever.

TLDR: Always have SOMEONE to lead the party

Until next time, Dear Readers…

P.S. – I know I owe you, my Premium Subscribers, a new Ingrates preview, but there was an issue last night and it didn’t get posted. It will be up next week. Thanks for your patience.

P.P.S. – I want to remind everyone that, on our pages, we have our podcast episodes. I’ve been translating posts (or at least the ones that can translate) into podcast format for those who would rather listen to my posts!

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Here we are with another installment of the Inglorious Ingrates!

Enjoy!

Dear Readers, I know that it’s been…awhile…since I have done a painting update of any kind. Why?

Well, after that Elven Spelljammer Ship and the associated tree dock, I was worn out with painting!

But that is now past and I need to do some more painting and get back in the saddle, so to speak.

So here’s my new project: the red Slaad.

I have a blue one as well as a grey and death Slaad, but we’ll get to those when we get to them.

For now, let’s concentrate on what we have now.

Here’s what we are working with:

Based on the surface area we are looking at, I’m thinking that our newish Speedpaints will work great for the main part of the slaad.

Looking at my collection, I’m thinking Slaughter Red is the way to go.

It should give us a nice middle of the road red, with pinkish highlights and a deep red for the recesses.

Then I am going to be using Matt Black for the claws/nails/spikes, and a standard red for the eyes (with a black line for their snake-like pupils) covered in a glossy varnish to make them look more like eyes.

Then we’ll do some basing, and we’ll be done!

Of course, as you all well know, there will be… complications. It comes with the territory.

So, let’s get some speedpaint on this bad boy!

I’m fairly happy with how he’s turning out so far. I had to go back over it and touch up some areas that I had missed, like sides of fingers inside of thighs, things like that.

The only thing I’ve discovered is that just because it’s a speed paint doesn’t mean it’s speed dries.

I will have to wait till later to go back and do the other colors. But that’s okay. I’ll get some more paint on the other bits tomorrow and report back next week on the results.

Until next time, Dear Readers…

The Ingrates find themselves embroiled in what seems to be several political situations! Find out how they navigate it in this episode!

Shenanigans ensue when the Ingrates come across a strange town in some sort of time loop! How will they deal with it? Find out now!

Dear Readers, with the exception of a post here and there, you may have noticed my continued absences and sporadic posts.

There’s a reason for this: my mental health.

I’ve really been struggling lately, and I appreciate your continued love and patience.

That said, I’m going to try and post more often.

I’m SO behind in my “A DM’s Perspective” that I’m worried that I won’t catch up.

My video editor has been having technical difficulties making getting my Premium Content posts up and going (he’s been trying, God love him!).

And lastly, my depression has been getting the better of me throughout this whole ordeal.

So I needed a break.

The other night, this past Sunday evening to be exact, my daughter wanted to go see a movie and invited me along. I was surprised but excited. We hadn’t had a dad/daughter date in a long while. We went to go see Bullet Train. It was easily in my top 5 favorite action movies ever, up there with Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Boondock Saints, and Red. It was that good.

And I needed that sort of break.

To add insult to injury, I’m coming up on my birthday. It’s a number that marks me as being in/close to middle aged.

To say the least, I’ve been stressed out.

Some things I’m working on: getting caught up with my “A DM’s Perspective,” another painting project (personal project; after those monolithic projects [the spelljammer ship and the tree/dock], I really need to get back to my painting), releasing more Inglorious Ingrates episodes (episodes for the masses!), and another “A Player’s Perspective” for our more recent forays in the town of Arkham Falls for our “Kids on Bikes” campaign. In other words, I’m getting back to work!

Again, thanks for the patience and kindness in letting me take a break!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

Dear Readers, I have been truly blessed with several things while running this blog. I get some exposure on other blogs, I get to post articles from other blogs, and I sometimes get asked to review a product or, in this case, adventure for folks.

Now. I want to put a disclaimer on this today:

IF YOU ARE ONE OF MY PLAYERS OR ARE PLAYING THIS ADVENTURE, STOP READING IMMEDIATELY, AS THERE MAY BE SOME SPOILERS!!

Ahem. As I was saying.

Move over “The Haunt” series, and welcome “Fear the Reaper” by Ammon Hansen! This person emailed me and asked me to look over their adventure and help give an assessment. Flattered, I did.

And let me tell you: I was impressed. And I am not impressed easily, when it comes to new adventures, especially from community-published adventures on the DMs Guild website (www.dmsguild.com)! I’ve been burned too many times with community-published adventures. They have been railroad-y, poorly thought out, or otherwise just plain badly written. Don’t get me wrong! I’ve found a few gems here and there, but I pay CLOSE attention to the reviews now. I mean, I got “The Haunt” from there, as well as “The Lich Who Stole Christmas” among others. Those are the exceptions, not the rule.

But this person…this person was different. They were asking for feedback before publishing! They wanted some input to make their product better! I couldn’t possibly have been more excited. Oh, I had my share of trepidation when they emailed it to me, believe it. I, frankly, was half expecting the drivel that I normally see on the DMs Guild website.

But no…absolutely not. I had found yet another gem! Sure, it needed some polishing, but a gem nonetheless!

After some back and forth, with some recommendations from yours truly (and, I’m sure, other DMs), they sent out a final copy to me that blew my mind. Here’s the premise:

Traveling through a thick, dangerous forest, you find the road ahead blocked by fallen trees. A heavy thunderstorm begins as the party backtracks to find a mysterious hotel, only to quickly discover the great evil housed within.

I mean, if that doesn’t grab your attention, nothing will.

As for the adventure itself:

It has a wonderful premise. Granted, the whole “the way is blocked, oh look, a thunderstorm, oh look an inn!” shtick has been done before, it really works here.

Now, the NPCs: I found them interesting and engaging. Even moreso once you see/find out the twist regarding them.

The horror level goes from 1-100 very quickly. I wish there was a little more build up to it, but based on everything else in the adventure, I get why Ammon did things this way. It really gets the PC’s into the action without dilly-dallying around. I can appreciate it.

The final reveal as to who/what the badguy(s) is/are is more than a bit interesting. It relied on a modified version of a critter, but that’s more than okay, as it adds to the mystery of the adventure, and the horror that accompanies it.

The best part about the adventure is that, while originally made for a party of level 5 adventurers, there is a chart inside that shows how to scale it. This is super useful for running it for higher level parties, although I don’t think it would be okay to scale it past, say, level 10 or so. Beyond that, it would be too easy to bypass the cool parts of the adventure. Personally, I think level 9 is the highest I would run this adventure at, and the level that I intend on actually running it for one of my groups (the Ingrates), and somewhere between 5 and 9 for my monthly group.

In any case, this adventure is WELL worth the purchase, and, again, can be found on the DMs Guild website here. I cannot recommend it enough.

Let me know what you think about the adventure in the comment section below, either now, or after Halloween (when I, too, plan on running it!).

Until next time, Dear Readers…

Dear Readers, today (without too much context, as I haven’t caught you all up on the Ingrates’ shenanigans) I will show you all what the board looked like prior to the fight. Here it is, in all its glory, with all of the terrain:

That’s just the terrain.

Here is when we added the monsters (with faces cleverly edited out)…

As you can see, it turned out awesomely. And let me tell you, the fight was really touch and go for a minute. I had a lich in there for story reasons, and I had two death knights in there to give them urgency to get across the board. And then, in addition to the mass number of zombies and skeletons, new zombies popped up at the end of every round. It was epic.

The sad thing is, the party really struggled. I really thought they would start using some sort of teleportation to get to the ship. But they didn’t. They tried to stand and fight for a bit. Not sure why they decided to stand and fight against two death knights and a lich, but you can never predict what your players are going to do.

Additionally, and I won’t say which one, we saw one of the characters leave. Of course, we saw a new one join the party, but the story reason behind it was over a year in the making. I mean, this is something that that particular player and I had been planning since character creation.

And it was awesome.

Needless to say, the party was fairly devastated when that character left. But, there’s always the possibility that they return. That will take some work, but that character can return.

That’s all I have for today folks, so tune in next time to get some more updates on the Ingrates!

Until next time, Dear Readers….

Well, Dear Readers, today is the day!

Today is the day that I get to finally showcase that ship that you all have been seeing. Today is the day it finally makes an appearance on my game table!

TODAY!!!

I am so very excited.

I don’t want to give things away, but the Ingrates are in for a HUGE set of surprises tonight.

Yes, pictures will be posted of all of the terrain, miniatures, and such that are going to come with the ship and the tree dock. I wouldn’t leave you all hanging with just a description! You should know me better than that…

But I digress.

Tonight is going to to be absolutely epic. I look forward to posting pictures, even if they are out of context (I’m a bit behind on my “A DM’s Perspective”, and my editor started a new job and is behind on the episode previews).

Until next time, Dear Readers…

See the evolution of the Ingrates as they tackle this episode’s problem!

The party found themselves looking at a pirate base, with two ships docked, one inside the cave complex, and one in the cove. Deciding to assault the base, the party sniped the lookouts, and then entered the base. Seeing that most of the pirates were in the tavern inside the cave complex, the party blocked all of the exits, and set it on fire (this should sound familiar, as my party back in the days of Tomb of Annihilation did the same thing!), and letting survivors jump into the shark infested waters off to the side of the tavern.

Having dealt with this, the party destroyed one ship. They also freed the slaves that were being smuggled out of this location.

After freeing the slaves, the party, having no further leads, decides to head to Luniaraysk, to deliver more food their way. Along the way, they meet two people, one who has, seemingly uncontrollable tremors, and the other laughing heartily sporadically. Highly suspicious of the situation, where the response of the two is “it happens sometimes.”

The party heads onward, only to find out that Luniarysk has been importing slaves to eat, thereby fending off the famine that they have been experiencing. Seeing also that there is a large black tower made of an unknown metal is in the middle of town that they had not heard about previously. Deciding to assassinate the mayor to stop the nonsense and slaughter of innocents, they do so, causing the crowd to panic and disperse.

Investigating the strange tower, the party discovered two things: the party was confronted with four very powerful evil adventurers, that had “saved” the town from starvation (and presumably led the town to cannibalism), and on top of the tower were four crystals that negated their magic abilities and items. After the confrontation, the party left hurriedly, knowing that they were no match with these adventurers. Worse still, the party was targeted by a rod of some kind that they realized had the capability of cutting off the world from deities, including Falinora. Stripped of their magic and protections, the party fled.

Leaving that place, and with less food than they came (they contacted the spymaster to have soldiers come and enforce the idea that cannibalism was in no way acceptable, and hopefully with more food.

The party traveled then, to Bobuch, where they found that The Priest had been, helping feed the town, keeping them from starvation. The party inquired about the strange crystals that fell from the sky, and found that they had been dropped 300 feet down an abandoned mineshaft. The party went down and, using the shatter spell, destroyed the crystals.

Meanwhile, The Priest met with the party, who assured them that the effects of the strange rod were not permanent and would subside in a matter of days. After that time, he was able to repair Avery’s broken hammer, Angelus. The Priest explained that this item was called the Scepter of the Sorcerer-Kings. It’s appearance was unexpected and foretold dire consequences for the world. In fact, its presence cannot be seen by deities at all, and followers are only told of its appearance to be on the lookout for it and to seize it at all costs, to keep it from out of the wrong hands.

The party set back out, towards Pronk, having been told by The Priest that messengers sent to that town have not returned.

What lay in store for the Ingrates next? Stay tuned for another edition of “A DM’s Perspective”!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

So, I saw the streams that many of you all also have seen. If you haven’t, here they are:

Okay, so it seems that they are not doing editions any longer. They are going to call it just “D&D.” They seem to be wanting to keep 5th edition as a base, and are now codifying many of the rules that most players already play.

For example:

They are doing the Nat 20 always succeeds, while a Nat 1 always fails, even with skills.

It’s interesting, to say the least.

Even better, since D&D Beyond has been purchased by Wizards of the Coast (WotC), they have released playtest materials for One D&D. I am loving it.

I won’t lie, I was a bit skeptical at first.

Then they talked about making an actual virtual tabletop. They talked about the whole thing where players “cobble together” so many things to play D&D virtually. As an example, my virtual players use D&D Beyond for their characters, then the Avrae tool for my Discord games, and the Beyond20 browser extension to port character rolls and usage to Roll20. That’s a lot of hoops to jump through.

Some things that the new ruleset are currently looking at codifying is that, on a critical hit, only the weapon damage gets doubled, not the sneak attack/smite/etc…

They are also codifying Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything‘s rules regarding character origins and creation. It’s…interesting. Especially since much of these options give a feat at first level. Then they add other things, like giving dwarves tremor sense while in contact with stone a certain times per day. Very interesting.

Conclusion

All in all, I am excited about this “new evolution” of D&D. Frankly, I love that they are simply building off of 5e, as it’s become a very popular system, and rightly so!

What do you think, Dear Readers? Let me know in the comment section below.

Until next time, Dear Readers…

Dear Readers,

I appreciate your patience with me and my sporadic posting schedule. My healing has been going well from my surgery, but I have a significant number of life-changes as a result.

I am still dedicated to bringing you quality content and bringing it regularly. This month has just been a beast. And for that, I apologize.

Things to look forward to:

I saw the new D&D One video and frankly, I’m a have a bit of trepidation as well as excitement.

I’m feeling unease over this new “evolution” that they are discussing, but I’m excited that they aren’t doing editions any longer, whatever that means. I’m looking forward to seeing how this pans out.

And don’t worry, I plan on having a more detailed post about these new developments tomorrow. I just didn’t have time today.

All that said, I’m a total fan of WotC (Wizards of the Coast), as well as D&D Beyond, so I’ll end up buying everything.

Speaking of buying products, check this out for a preview of tomorrow’s post: they are, now that WotC owns dndbeyond.com, going to start offering what we’ve all been asking for: a combination of digital and physical copies all in one. Color me impressed. Granted, the price has gone up, commensurate with said offering, with the next book costing almost $60, but at least I’m getting both things. I’m willing to say, as the meme does, “Shut up and take my money!” It does seem that they are still offering just the digital option on dndbeyond.com, and for much cheaper, but I digress. I would also like to say that they are, for the new Dragonlance campaign setting, offering some sort of “Deluxe” option for about $160, but I want to know what’s in it before I toss that kind of money around. I may as well just go whole hog and buy the Beadle and Grimm Platinum Edition of the offering to get the miniatures, props, handouts, and such.

We’ll see.

Well that’s all I have for today, so stay tuned for more updates as I can get them out to you.

Until next time, Dear Readers…

P.S. – I know, for you Premium Subscribers, that I haven’t had a new updated preview of the Ingrates in awhile. My editor has been having some technical difficulties, among other things. I plan on making it up to you with a Premium Subscriber giveaway in the near future. Look forward to that. If you aren’t a Premium Subscriber, consider becoming one to get access to extra content and giveaways!

The Ingrates are back at it again!

Enjoy!

Dear Readers, I just finished reading the first two books (Astral Adventurer’s Guide and Boo’s Astral Menagerie), as well as the first two chapters of the included adventure, Light of Xsryxis. And let me tell you all something:

I am more than impressed, yet a little disappointed. Let me go over what I love first.

I’ll try not to give away any spoilers.

What I Love

First off, I am impressed by the artwork. It’s frankly stunning, with great visuals of monsters, ships, and other creatures. And the books are absolutely filled with them, but not to the point where it’s overwhelming.

Secondly, I am thoroughly impressed by all three books! The Adventurer’s Guide is chalk full of new playable races, feats, and even a couple of new backgrounds. Among the races, the Giff, the Plasmoids, the Hadozee, and the Autognomes are noteable. There are definitely other ones, like the thri-kreen, which were monstrous-only creatures, but are now playable races.

Next came the vast number of Spelljamming ships. There were such a vast variety of ships, each with their typical uses and racial (if any) origins. They tell you whether or not the ship can land on land and/or sea, if at all, as well as the number and types of weapons they carry. One of my favorites is the Shrike ship, as the vessel that I have been working on seems to be a variant of that!

Lastly, in the Adventurer’s Guide, is the treatise on the Rock of Bral. I love the general history as well as the descriptors of the location, not to mention how to incorporate it into your campaign world (to to speak).

It includes a poster map photo of the Rock of Bral, but since I got the digital version on dndbeyond.com, I obviously don’t have a physical copy of the poster map and will likely be printing it out for my players so that they have a reference to where things are. That’s my plan for Adventurers League in any case.

Lastly is the adventure itself. This is where I have mixed feelings…

First off, I absolutely love that each chapter ends on a cliffhanger. That is awesome. The adventure has some really good stuff, and the plot is very cool. The adventure hook is even better, getting the party into the action right from the get-go.

Lastly, I love how it comes into sections, broken out into three books. One is the player’s stuff with all of the new races and such. The next is the bestiary/monster manual for the setting. Lastly is the adventure that comes with it. Very handy breakout.

What I Don’t Like

This is where things get…complicated. As much as I absolutely love the plot line of the story, it doesn’t really seem to have much depth. It uses milestone leveling which is fine, but there isn’t much substance in between each level to justify (in my mind at least) a jump in level that frequently. According to the adventure, you level after each chapter!

To add insult to injury, it’s a relatively low-level adventure, ending at level 8. Level 8, Dear Readers.

That’s like…not even into the fun-zone of level 9.

Sure, there will likely be DMs Guild adventures to take the party beyond 8th level, but with what I am paying ($69.99 in the U.S.), I want a more robust adventure and more substance to the campaign setting itself.

Maybe it’s just me. I dunno.

Conclusion

Despite its flaws, I love the product. I am buying the alt-cover of the adventure/setting, mostly because it looks cool (in addition to having it electronically on dndbeyond.com). All in all, I’m fairly happy with this new setting.

Until next time, Dear Readers…

That’s it, Dear Readers, that’s what I have come to say. My surgery went well, with zero complications. I am now in recovery and recuperation mode. Hopefully, I will be back to a regular posting schedule come this next week, as I come off my meds, as I am generally too hazy on them to do much.

Here’s hoping.

Until next time, Dear Readers…

Sorry, Dear Readers, there won’t be any significant posts for the week. My family and I are making preparations for my surgery on two days time and I am, go figure, caught in the middle of it.

I’m glad I could finish up the ship for all of you to see before it’s big debut. I’ll be working on the tree dock some more. Additionally, it’s been brought to my attention that I have a commission or two that I will be receiving soon, so be on the lookout for that.

So that’s it for now. I might have a Kids on Bikes update for you tomorrow if I can manage it. Frankly, I’m anxious about my surgery. Granted it’s pretty minimal, and as long as I follow my doctor’s orders I should be fine. But I’ll be there sheets to the wind on pain meds for the next week or so.

So, until then, Dear Readers!