Sarah Darkmagic

With a year under my belt, I've been looking back at my blog post and game session notes from my very first D&D game. It's been interesting reading them, as both were the first things I had written for approximately 8 years. My blog post seems so strange to me because I remember that I had curtailed my writing for fear that I would just appear to be silly on the Internet and my session notes lacked the sort of flowery and descriptive style that I love. Both speak volumes about how nervous and unsure I was of myself at the time, as I tried to do something I had never done before in front of people I really like and respect.

Due in large part to my insecurities, my prep for that first game was intense. During work, I listened to first series of the PvP/PA podcasts again and again. I would highly recommend them to any new players since many of the basic rules are explained as they come up during the game, making it a great tutorial as well. Since I wanted to surprise my husband with my character, I spent lunches and breaks reading the Player's Handbook. Fortunately, I worked from home at the time, so hiding my activities wasn't that hard. Even with that preparation, I remember how intimidating the character sheet appeared. I'll be honest, I could not figure the darn thing out. I finally found a spreadsheet online that made things a ton easier as I tried to figure out AC and basic melee attacks and the like.

Beyond creating a character sheet, I knew I also had to create a character. This part was really easy for me. I decided that since the podcasts were the reason I would start playing, that my character would be a cousin of Jim Darkmagic. I also knew that our particular party needed a rogue as they had been begging me to play one for a good month or two. Ok, maybe not begging, but I think at least one member asked every week or two. And after thumbing through the Player's Handbook, I really liked the half-elf race. So now I had to draw together Jim Darkmagic, a half-elf, and a rogue. For me, this part was rather easy. I love creating stories, songs and even silly rhymes. If you're interested, I wrote a bit of Sarah's background here.

With the background story items done, I asked my GM for a few special mundane items for character flavor and created stories for the rest of the items Sarah had on her. The first special item was a Locket of Everlasting Warmth. Mechanically, it does nothing, but storywise, the locket was created by her father Stephen. Whenever she clasps it in her hand, Sarah fells surrounded by the warm love of her family. It seemed perfect for an insecure woman out on her own for the first time. Her second item was a never-ending journal so she could write and write without fear of running out of pages or having to get rid of older journals. Beyond that, she had a set of fine clothes, a going-away gift from her parents so that she would never encounter a situation where she lacked the proper dress, a henna kit so she could reapply her tattoo of Sehanine, and a long sword, from the wife of the missing Douvan Staul, in hopes Sarah could use it to help find him.

Finally, the big night came. I was so incredibly nervous. Two of the four people at the table knew of my plans and my husband was not one of them. I did my normal wife of the host chit-chat before the game and settled down on the couch to "read" while they started their game session. I impatiently waited for my cue, the time I was to come and introduce myself to the party.

Fortunately, they were in a position where such an introduction was easy to do. They were running through Keep of the Shadowfell and were currently waiting outside a waterfall. The elven ranger, Lucan, heard Sarah's approach first, and warned his party. Once the GM described the situation of a young half-elf woman appearing from the wood and announced that it was Sarah's turn, I approached the table. Many of the players were a bit confused by this announcement. Trying to project but failing terribly on the account of nerves, I said "Damn, looks like I missed all the action again." My husband turned to look at me with a bit of a blank expression, as if I was there to get a hug or to tell him I was going to head to the store. I let it hang in the air for a beat or two and then said, "Sorry, where are my manners, my name is Sarah." With him still a bit shocked, I pulled my chair up to the table with my character sheet and pencil in hand (I hadn't had the chance to get some dice in the mean time).

With hasty introductions accomplished, we turned our attention on the waterfall. I don't want to spoil the fight for anyone who has yet to play Keep on the Shadowfell but let's just say it's a pretty hard fight. I rolled initiative pretty well which was a blessing and a curse. As a rogue, going first gave me some bonuses, but it also meant I got myself into trouble pretty quickly. Soon Sarah was surrounded with no easy way out. At first, I panicked a bit, which is exactly what my character would have done. Eventually, I gathered my wits and begin using her powers that pushed enemies around. That enabled our paladin to get close enough to heal her and then switch places with her. From there, the tide began to turn and I'm pretty sure I was able to bring down some more of the enemies. Perhaps just as important, my crazy defender-like antics meant the ranged striker and wizard were able to get some great shots off without being harassed.

Although it may sound strange, my first game wouldn't have been as exciting to me if it wasn't for that encounter and my mistakes. Likewise, if the GM had pulled his punches and gave me a free pass instead of having the enemies surround me, there is a good chance I wouldn't have continued with the game. When that situation happened and no one rolled their eyes or made fun of me, I knew that I had found my group and that I would be back to play. And well, you guys know the rest.

In addition to completing my personal challenge of writing an Underdark adventure, I participated in the DM's challenge during PAX East. Since I'm going to rework parts of that adventure, I don't want to post the story yet. However, I'm more than happy to post my map notes.

The first encounter occurs when either the party stumbles upon a Quaggoth hunting party or the hunting group stumbles upon them. The area is a pretty decent camp site, with fresh water and it's a bit easier to guard than an open area. The small circles on the right denote Sporecloud squares, which provide concealment once engaged. There is also a nice fire pit, probably created over time by wandering adventurers.

Next up is the old dwarven outpost which marks the entrance to the mine. Quaggoths have taken the thing over. Archers and a chanter guard the front door from above while two berzerkers watch from the campfire below. I had a skill challenge at the end of the earlier encounter, and groups that pass that challenge are given information about the secret passage. That gives them a slight advantage in the hardest fight of the adventure.

This map encompasses two adventure areas. The first is a small cave filled with myconids and geonids. Only fairly perceptive players will notice the latter, as they look a bit like the other boulders dotting the area. The second area is the home of a dark creeper necromancer and his zombies. The zombies have been taking the bodies of Quaggoth's victims and dragging them through the myconids' territory, so the two groups aren't exactly friends. Insightful adventurers might be able to use this fact to negotiate with the myconids for safe passage. The main terrain elements in the first area are the waterfall that leads into a pool and the slime between the two geonids. When I ran it, the slime became difficult terrain but if I ran it again, I would probably make it slippery and require an acrobatics check to avoid ending up prone. In the second area, there are blood soaked squares that award critical hits on a roll of 19 or 20.

I'd love to thank the people who give me some hints and advice in regards to this adventure: Phil, Randall, Jonathan and Jason. They are all great guys and I wouldn't have had the confidence to run it without their help.

I'll admit right at the start, I was not only a PAX virgin but a convention virgin when I attended PAX East this past weekend. I had absolutely no idea what to expect and that's probably a good thing too since there is no way I could have predicted the experience I had.

Highlights:

• Meeting too many people to name, including Phil Menard, Trevor Kidd, Logan Bonner, Greg Bilsland, Chris Tulach, Quinn Murphy, Dave Chalker, E, Mark Knapik, and Dan Clery. Oh yeah, Wil Wheaton and Scott Kurtz too.
• Having Phil run a quick pimp my game session with me during Friday brunch. Most of the tips were more in the realm of tweaks than complete rewrites, which totally made my day.
• Playing D&D in a bar with most of the above mentioned people.
• Running two games. First, I ran the Dark Sun preview and one of the guys at my table was non-other than Andrew French, the DM of my first Game Day game. Then I ran my adventure for the DM challenge. About 8 hours straight of DMing.
• Giving Mark his first Boston Boston cream donut.
• Sitting in on the Save My Game panel and getting most of the jokes as well as understanding the advice.
• Having dinner with a bunch of the D&D guys on Sunday.

Lows:

• Being so nervous around Wil Wheaton.
• Not running an even better Dark Sun sesion. I know I spoke way to fast and I probably could have made it more immersive. I would love some feedback from anyone who was in that session.
• Not winning the DM challenge. Just kidding, I didn't expect to win and it was an honor just to compete. Congrats to Dave Chalker on his win!
• Having work on Monday which meant I couldn't stay for bowling. I really hope Trevor won.

Overall, I am so glad that PAX East was my first convention. The barriers to entry were much lower and everyone was so incredibly friendly and open. It truly was a magical experience. I'm going to do my best to attend more conventions, particularly Gen Con and D&D Experience. The experience also increased my confidence in my DM abilities a bit, so I plan to post more of my adventures and ideas here.

Since playing in the D&D Encounters session last Wednesday, organized play is a lot less scary for me. This is a good thing with PAX East coming up in just a few days. This past Saturday I went in to check out D&D Worldwide Game Day for Player's Handbook 3 at Pandemonium Books & Games in Cambridge, MA. And, since I knew I was going this time, I had my player's handbook and dice all ready for play. It's a good thing I went too, one of the other people from my group, Mike, also showed up and we were able to play together in the first game. Mike actually posted about his experiences on his site and, even more importantly, he has pictures, including one of me. Not only did I play in that first game at noon, but I stuck around to play again at 6pm.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. The number one bit of awesome for me was that it started in medias res. That really helped calm my nerves and helped me focus the list of things I could do. In addition, the DM of my first game, @aethanbear, is incredibly funny and knowledgeable and I really would love it if everyone had the opportunity to play with him.

I decided to make it a day of firsts as much as possible, so I decided to try out the defender in the first game, playing the Wilden Battlemind. While it helps if your defender rolls a higher initiative (sorry guys), I had no problem playing the character and I think I did a decent job with the tactics. And while the points system was new to me, I don't remember being unsure about how many to use or when. Lastly, during the skill challenge I had to do an intimidate check, and I loved the mental picture of the Wilden puffing out her leaves to appear larger.

For the second game, I gave the half-elf ardent a whirl. The ardent is a pretty good generalist, which I tend to like, but it definitely felt harder for me to play. There are a lot more team mechanics choices that go into deciding which of his powers to use, namely a decision tree of healing, moving, and debuffing. Adding on top of that the power points system, I definitely had to pause more often to figure out what to do. I think I handled it pretty well, but I might steer new people away from that character class.

The adventure gave me a ton of ideas on things to bring into my own game and really helped me understand just how great terrain effects can be in a game. I can't wait for the games during PAX East. I live in the area and should be around Thursday night through Sunday. If things get too late, I might just beg, borrow or steal a bit of hotel room floor to sleep on.