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• This is a taxing adventure indeed. As you know I just started last week. My players loved it, the role-playing was awesome, of the best I've seen in newbies, but I found myself having to make more preparations and assimilate a huge load of information than ever before. In the end I threw my notes to the wastebasket and let the players take the choices, relying on everything I had learned and the way the first "season" had to go. They ended up purchasing a parrot, one and a half yard of very expensive silk -the only female, angry because everybody was trying to look up her pixie's skirt in the Wide- and nearly setting several stalls on fire, but as Kirk said: It.Was.Fun.

• I agree with you both. I am still finishing up writing what happened but I was a little overwhelmed with all that was going on. We did not even get to the party and the taxes just the law (where half the group got tossed in jail). Next week I think we will get though the end of Stage 5 and I hope Stage 6. Also they went back and fixed Stage 4 Garbage Problem so I guess I need to make some updates.

• As of last night Fantasy Flight Games in Roseville is running Encounters no more. The DM, running the "adventure" as is, went to the bathroom. One of the players then muttered "I'm bored. We should leave soon." At 9 p.m. she gave her boyfriend "the look" and he said, "Well, look at the time. We should get going." And that's when I piped up, "Let's talk about the elephant in the room. This adventure, if you could call it one, is boring." We all agreed, and agreed to quit playing it, and to switch to something else next Wednesday. We're looking at FFG Star Wars, made by the company that hosts us. Oh well, it was a good run of organized play while it happened.

• So this week started off with everyone in the group spending the first 30 min to update their characters to the new Next rules. I felt it was better to change to the new rules since they will match the final rules and give them a better taste of what Wizards will be doing with the product. The main things we noticed were:
  - Barbarians were cut down in this release. No more 1/2 damage and only a few extra hp. Also losing the ADV on melee attacks hurts too.
  - Bards are now in the game. I did not allow anyone to switch to a bard but people were happy to see them
  - Drows, Tieflings, Kenders, Warforges, and Dragonborn oh my. Yes so many races and so little time. One that stood out the most for me was Drows. If they are in sunlight they take a Disadvantage on all rolls just like how they were in the original books. I also liked the Dragon Color determined the Dragonborn's powers. Finally if Kenders were in the game before the last update they would be perfect for Baldur's Gate. Their power would help a lot in the game.

  So after a week of political intrigue the party went a rested at the Blushing Mermaid. They all had bad dreams and thus were only able to get a short rest. The party this week consisted of:
  • Human Ranger (Owl)
  • Half-Elf Mage (Twil) (2 1st Level Spells Remaining)
  • Half-Orc Cleric (Lucy) (2 1st level Spells Remaining, 0 Divinity, 0 Hit Dice)
  • Wood Elf Paladin (Woodarrow) (1 1st level Spells)
  • Tinker Gnome Rogue (Nezzle)
  • Half-Orc Rogue (Jackal)
  • Half-Orc Barbarian (Torrak Karrot)
  • Stout Halfling Barbarian (Kah-Kaww) (0 Hit Dice, 1 Rage)
  • Half-Elf (LG) Paladin (Jeff) (2 1st level Spells Remaining)

  Blushing Mermaid and Upper City (Everyone):
  The party woke up and everyone talked about their bad dreams. Nezzle decided it was time to have one of them in the running for Duke. The party spent 15 minutes discussing why they should not be Duke until Nezzle said she would do it. She then went with the group to the hall of records and forged a birth certificate of her and that she is a Noble so she could be Duke. The party as they moved around town kept hearing about rat attacks and people getting sick. The group decided it was time to clean up the streets so they headed to talk to Silvershield since he was in charge of the sanitation of the city. Silvershield complained about how his friend was being blackmailed and forced out of running for the Duke. He wanted his name cleared and to find out who set him up. The party of course knew it was them but kept quiet. Finally the party got Silvershield to pay them 6 gold each to take care of the sanitation problems of the city. They were heading back to Baldur's Gate when the clock struck 3 bells (5:30PM). The Watch closed the gates and started arresting people.

  Jackal, Woodarrow, Twil and Owl all ran for it while Nezzle trusted in here standing to get out of trouble. The guards (20 of them) stopped Nezzle and her group and demanded documentation or they would be arrested. Nezzle produced her papers and said she belonged here. Her papers held up and she was told to head back home before anything else happened. Nezzle then told them that the others were part of her group and they were let go too. The ones that ran had a small skill challenge where Jackal and Owl were captured and the others got away. Nezzle and the group headed to the Watch's prison and collected Owl and Jackal. They all then headed to the Three Old Kegs for the night but noticed rats breaking into houses and people screaming. The group followed some of the rats and it lead them to the sewers. The group decided they could stop the rats and get some more support for Nezzle for Duke.

  Sewers (Everyone):
  So I drew out a map on the dry erase graph board and added some sewer tiles to complete it. The group made it to a break in the sewers where there was a cave. The rats kept going in and out of the cave. This started the combat for the night (30 rats, 2 unknown vs. 9 PCs).

  The combat vs the rats was quick but still they got hit once and a while. Woodarrow and Jeff suffered some ill effect from the bites and are now diseased (I am going to make them suffer DIS on all CON, STR and DEX rolls till they get healed). The party fought their way into the cave and met Thurgo Songbuckle. Thurgo told them they needed to leave or suffer the fate of all in the city. The Party did not even talk but attacked Thurgo and he call his assistant to help him (a generic Werewolf). This fight the Werewolf did nothing (missed all 3 turns) and got hit by some silvered arrows and magic. Thurgo critical hit on Jackal and also diseased him (same as the others. I decided that he would not suffer lycanthropy). The party took them out but spent more Spells and resources. They also found a magical mace in but are not sure what to do with it. The party left the sewers and then headed to talk to the sanitation people. After talking to a few of them they were able to figure out it would cost 150gp to get them working again. The party pooled resources and were able to get the sanitation people back on the job. They then told everyone in Baldur's Gate that is was Nezzle that was the one that got rid of the rats and cleaned the streets. People are now looking at Nezzle for Duke.

  GM VIEW:
  OK the party really needed a fight so I included the special rat attack into the game. They liked it but still are not sure which way to turn since so much is happening. Next week we will get the Taxes and Party completed and move into Stage 6 but still there is so much to do and not enough time for everything. This week we went for 3 1/2 hours and we could of done more but it was late. I think maybe in a week or 2 things will get the characters focused toward the events coming up but right now I have to prod them a lot to go somewhere. They want to do so much and are having a lot of fun Role playing but it makes the sessions a lot longer since we keep doing a lot of side quests. Still I am enjoying this a lot even if it takes me 4-6 hours a week to get ready for the next session.

• Game HQ - OKC, OK

  We had three tables of 6 players each again this week. My group had dispatched the wererat halfling twins from last week and discovered and nice secret access from the Upper City sewers to the Lower City sewers. When they emerged from the sewers, the city was in a huge uproar because the Minsc and Boo statue was discovered to have been vandalized. Because of the rat and roof slate adventures, they were a little behind on the main flow of events. Ravenguard spoke with them briefly telling them that he wanted the culprits captured and brought in alive to stand trial and that this was to be their sole focus, since mobs were forming outside Flaming Fist offices demanding justice.

  One of the PCs decided to go off on his own for some reason, and check back in with Rilsa. He seemed to think it was it was no problem going to see Rilsa after not seeing her for quite some time, joining the Flaming Fist and completing tasks for them counter to the efforts of the Guild. He acted surprised when his character was jumped in Little Calimshan and knocked out cold for the remainder of the session.

  The rest of the party found the clues at the Ranger statue which lead them to the patriars home. They also encountered the Master of Cobbles at the crime scene who implored them to kill the offenders and enticed them with a 150 gp reward. Once at the patriar's home, they find Silvershield who was personally looking into the matter. Recognizing them from Founder's Day, The Duke put his cards on the table and, together with the parents, offered the PCs a 300 gp reward for the discrete and safe return of the teens, even giving them the idea that they should begin their hunt with talking to the gate guards.

  They had no trouble tracking them successfully to their Outer City hiding place. Convincing the potter to give up the teens, they decided to dress them down, disguising them as commoners and to casually proceed back to Upper City. They took the ferry back to Brampton and were proceeding through Lower City just fine when they encountered a little rub. From a side alley they notice a dark figure whom they recognize as the man who accompanied Rilsa back at the beginning of the adventure. He is accompanied by two thugs who are carrying another man. When he lifts the unconscious, bloody face of the man, they realize it is their companion whom they had not seen in quite a while. The man's only comment was, "Trade?"

  We ended things there, but it was clear that we will begin next week with an initiative roll.

  This session, even though there was no combat, was great fun. I can, however, sympathize with what Ameron and others are saying regarding the difficulties of the adventure when you have a rotating player base each week. Our table is pretty much the same players every time, so I love it. But he has a point. I think that WotC needs to provide a supplement to adventures of this style in the Encounters packet that is a more traditional linear option for tables with constantly new players or DM's with little time for preparation. This should come with battle maps. This adventure is a huge time investment for the DM. This is counter to the spirit of the Encounters format. The whole point to Encounters was to get a quick simple game in each week that doesn't require much preparation and gives the players a little taste of all three pillars of the D&D experience. If you have a consistent turnout of players, then you can deviate from that and realize the potential of an adventure written like this one. Otherwise, it becomes very difficult to DM and not as much fun to play.

• We have been lucky at Tabletop Tyrants this season to have had both tables fairly consistantly full of the same players, with 3 new players joining us this week.
  This week saw the most prep put into it, but that was because we wanted to run our modified version of "planted evidence" crypt crawl with the Ravenloft tiles.
  To be honest it was a nice diversion but I think most of the players actually prefer the combat light RP of this season.
  We also chose to switch to the latest playtest packet "Mid-adventure" as we thought it was better to test the newest (and final) version rather than wait another 6 or 7 weeks before changing.

• This session, we had 2 tables on next and a table of 4e. My table of next had a forest gnome barbarian, a rock gnome druid, an elf druid, and an elf ranger. We decided to check with both our guid and flaming fist contacts, and found nothing to actively do, though we did learn that there was a new curfew in place, and ravenguard had convinced the harbor master to begin taking a luxury tax in response, as the lower city merchants were hurt by the curfew. He asked us to listen to how people responded to this, but had nothing else for us.
  After leaving, we were approached by a lantern lass, who delivered an invitation to a party the following night.
  With a day and a half to kill, we decided to investigate a bowl that we had found in the trash, which we knew was used for alchemy, and we recognized the symbol on the bottom as that of a maker of fireworks. We deduced that the bowl was used for creating the smoke powder for fireworks, and that such a thing, even cracked, would be dangerous in the wrong hands. We decided to pay the firework maker a visit. When asked about this bowl, he was upset, and stated that he didn't think any of his were missing, and any apprentice clumsy enough to crack it like that deserved to be flogged. We accompanied him to the lab where the powder was made to check the inventory, and the elves each guarded the emergency exits in case he fled. Upon his return, we regrouped, and determined where he got his bowls, from a potter named Tacy Sans. We decided to check him next. The merchant had only one more lead: a man had come in a few weeks ago, asking a lot of questions, including where he got his bowls. He gave a description, and we went on our way.
  In light of the new curfew, the watch was looking for additional guards, and our ranger had decided to join. He had to leave our party at this point to arrive at his guard shift. The rest of us went to investigate the potter, only to find him absent. His apprentice was there, but had no information regarding the bowl, as only her master dealt with the bowls, as they were masterworks. We told her to send for us when her master had returned, and made our way to an inn.
  There, we were asked by a group of 3 lantern lasses if we needed guides or messengers. The barbarian suddenly had a great idea, and asked them if they knew where to find the firework merchant at this time of night. They took us to an entrance to the under cellar, where we told them to wait for us, as we would have another job for them when we returned. We pages the toll, and left for the merchant's house. The druids both turned into mutts, and the barbarian (forest gnome) cast minor illusion to hide inside the illusion of another one. They made their way, but were heard by a group of guards, one of whom investigated. It happened to be the ranger, who couldn't see through the illusion, but whom the party recognized. The barbarian told him quickly what they were doing, surprising the ranger, but securing his help in the upper city. He told the rest of his patrol he was getting rid of the dogs that wandered in, and to go ahead.
  Once at the merchant's house, he invited us in, and the barbarian played sketch artist using minor illusion to get the description of the suspect, and they returned to the inn where they were to meet the lamp lasses by way of the gate, as their guard escort got them out without a hitch. The barbarian showed the lasses the image of the suspect (through minor illusion), and promised a reward for information.
  We then spent the next day until the party relaxing at the inn, where the rock gnome was building a spring-powered launcher for his clockwork tools, that could also act as a firework launcher. Then, we went to the party. We were told by the host that he heard what we were doing, and that if we needed anything, that his door was open. Just so long as we use the back door (implying covert visits, not literally the back door). He also told us that the luxury tax would allow us to see who was stocking up on what, if we could obtain the shipping manifest.
  The following day, we went to the harbor, and tried to convince the harbor master to let us see the manifest, but he refused. So the barbarian had his stoat hide in the office, and look for the manifest. Upon the return of the stoat, the gnomes squeezed down the chimney, and the stoat showed them where the manifest was kept. After a failed attempt at picking the lock, the gnome druid simply used his greataxe to break the cabinet open. They took the manifest back to the inn, where they tried to open it. It held shut, and began shouting thief, alerting guards in the common room.
  And that's where the session ended...

  So far, we are enjoying the adventure itself, but between the constantly changing party, and the story changing between tables, it gets difficult for players to feel like they make a difference from week to week. Also, it seems like the adventure gives job hooks and results, but very little in the way of clues, or info that would help the players if they are on the right track. This makes it frustrating to players, when the hook is obvious, but the solution is abstract. It requires a lot more prep work by the DM, which is unnecessary, especially since it is an expensive adventure. It is a great concept for an adventure, and a DM with the time to flesh it out would greatly benefit from it, especially in a home campaign. But in a public play style, where the goal is show up and play for a couple of hours per week, it is difficult to make work. There are too many variables and restrictions on time. If a new player shows up for one session, they don't get to experience all 3 pillars of play. They get a lot of role-play, and a bit of exploration, but get combat only one in five times, and then it is short, and gives little idea of the potential of the game and characters.
  Again, for a general adventure, awesome. For encounters, not so much. If the new cost for adventures doesn't end encounters, I worry that this adventure will, as it unfortunately did with Greg above.

• Same group as last time, pixie assassin/warlock, pixie wizard, werewolf assassin, rabbit rogue and changeling druid. We started off hearing that there had been a freak snowstorm Imbrilum Scoond chief wizard of Gond had been found frozen while purportedly traveling to a brothel for some child abuse. The DM had messaged me in between games and strongly hinted that this was the wrath of Auril as a response to his disrespecting her in the previous session and I got a new magic dagger with his soul trapped inside.
  The group had several ideas on how to get Rilsa elected. The simplest were leaving magic mouths around town praising her from our wizard. Then, the warlock hired some beggars and vagrants to infiltrate crowds and praise her and shout down her enemies. The assassin suggested having the 2 pixies pay pigeons (in bread and birdseed) to defecate on her political enemies. We tried to reconcile the priests and thieves again, with no luck. They both wanted to know if Scoond’s death had been a murder. I had a good idea what was going on with Auril, but since it was sort of my fault, but I kept mostly quiet at this point. We spied on the priests and found out that there was evidence of powerful divine magic. I suggested we blame it on Bhaal to try to unite against a common enemy, but the thieves wanted proof. Scoond’s body was well protected so we investigated the scene of the crime. Everyone made their own investigations of the area. Magical inquiries just showed powerful magical cold, but a nearby resident had witnessed a divine agent of a winter goddesses come down and kill him. That answered that question. The rabbit suggested we manufacture evidence of Bhaal anyway, but the group decided to be honest and report the truth.
  That took us to our next mission. We really wanted to find Wilmur Bronzebreaker, the dwarf we had framed for robbery (and who was the actual subsequent murderer of 2 watch members). If we could deliver him to Rilsa that would enhance her position as being tough on crime and maybe soften the priesst and watch on her. Rilsa had no idea where he was, but did know where his cousin, Nant Thangol was. (The violent tax collector from episode 1) We arrived before his shift ended to ambush him, but he was already meeting with another Flaming Fist (later found out to be Gilden Marsh, the murdering javelin thrower from episode 1). All we could hear of their conversation was to be ready for tonight. We didn’t initially follow Marsh but our rabbit/rogue rolled 2 natural 20s and picked up his trail, which led back to the Marsh estate and evidence of a dwarf hiding there. He reported back and the group snuck over, under and through the back wall of the estate. We found a small house which held Bronzebreaker, Marsh, some Flaming Fists and most importantly 2 minotaurs! Was Cookslayer betraying us? Then we noticed that one of them was the minotaur who had been turned into a toad, so we figured it was probably a splinter group who had felt humiliated after last episode.
  There was a nearby tower which part of the party investigated. They found a ghost that led to a hidden tunnel under the house. Meanwhile the assassin/warlock and I waited outside and noticed Nant Thangol coming down the path. It got a little tense because of the split party and multiple different tasks needing to be done but we managed. The assassin/warlock one shotted Nant on the surprise round and I used a Daily to duplicate his appearance. I approached the door as Nant and muffed my bluff with a natural 1 making the door guards very suspicious. Fortunately when Marsh appeared I rolled better and convinced him I (Nant) had been attacked and he should send some guards to find the attackers. At this point half the group was inside the house having followed the secret passage and the warlock and I were at the door. It seemed like a good time to fight so I (Nant) shouted that Marsh had betrayed us and it was probably his friends who robbed me. Then everyone attacked. With about 20 minutes left in the session we needed to make it a quick fight. Our pixie wizard turned the minotaur into a toad again. (not technically allowed, but it was too funny not to do it.) We interrogated the minotaurs and they said they were a group of 5 who had been dissatisfied with the Cookslayer and gave us the names of the other ones. We also started having to roll saves NOT to kill people. Most of us made the saves, but the assassin failed when attacking Gilden Marsh. Just as well, as he was a murderous dirtbag who we really hated. We didn’t have time to turn over our prisoners and information this session so we will do it next session.
  Overall a good session. We have had a relatively constant group so that probably helped with some of the issues others are experiencing. Also, of course, we had Joe’s rewritten adventure. Plot wise it was fun. We got to wrap up some loose threads and take out some murderers who deserved what was coming to them. It certainly feels like we are making progress. I also feel happy with the side we picked as the others are seeming fairly bad and so far theres nothing (that we know) too terrible about the Thieves Guild. It’s interesting that we have to save to NOT kill now. We have been trying to avoid doing anything TOO evil or dishonest, but that is obviously going to be harder now. (I don’t regret killing Marsh. He deserved it.) The mystery at the beginning was difficult for me since I knew more about what was going on than the other players. I didn’t want to speak up in the beginning because that would cut short the investigation and lay the blame on me, but when I did speak up the other players didn’t believe me anyway. Oh well.
  As a group, I think we are making a little progress. Planning was much less contentious today, although we still had the problem of everyone wanting to get their own plan used (myself included). Still better than no one caring to think up a plan. The only (minor) problem was we spent so much time on the murder investigation that the fight was very rushed in the end. Most of the other players handled it fine. A bigger problem is that I didn’t handle it well and I was a little rude and pushy because I was worried about time. Anyone who is reading this. I apologize. I’ll try not to do it again and be more relaxed next time.

• I must protest. WOTC made a point of stressing that parties should try to stick together for this season, and with good reason. At our table (where we haven't deviated much from the text, aside from working in player choices effectively), the roleplaying has been very intense (both among the players and with the DM), the story has been massively engrossing, we have had some of our most intense and driven sessions when no combat came up whatsoever. This has been because of a collaborative effort between the players and the DM to really sink our fingers into the campaign. And all of this has been through Encounters. If your party makeup is shifting constantly week-to-week, perhaps it's best to do what your colleague did and wait until everyone can get together for a double session.
  MIBG is an experiment. It is Wizards trying out the roleplay-focused gameplay of 5thEd on a grander scale, and some of us really really want that. Not everybody needs a monster to slay every single week; some of us feel more rewarded when we lie through our teeth and barely scrape by in a clandestine investigation. The meat of this module shouldn't be ignored, and if the table can't sustain it, maybe that's the problem?

• I agree that there is no need for a fight EVERY week, and everyone at my flgs does seem to love the roleplay, but at the same time, this adventure doesn't quite fit the intent of encounters, which is to cater to new players by having a balance of all 3 'pillars' of the game. Instead, this adventure showcases one pillar, roleplay, and almost completely ignores the other two. In addition, any frustration with the adventure on the part of the players is more that it came under-prepared. In the past, encounters has been intended to have little prep time required, as it is supposed to cater to busy DMs and new players.
  While there can be some intense interactions with NPCs, most weeks seem to just be a lengthy investigation, with little to go off of, and barely any satisfaction or payout (at least in my group). Also, level gain is not nearly as quick as we would like. We are 6 weeks in, and still level 2. If I understand the apprentice tier properly, it is intended to take very little time to get to the next level, but taking as long as it is, we are getting pretty bored with what our current level provides. Our characters are seeming to stagnate.
  Yes, I feel like the switching tables is something that needs to be solved at a local level, but we have between 1 and 3 tables per week, and the players don't know who will be there and who won't, so skipping a week is not a viable option. The only thing we could do is assign each player to a DM at the beginning, and if too many more people show up, they get their own new table. But with a long season, where new people come and go with regularity, even this seems difficult. The only other thing I can think of would be to find some middle ground on the adventures.