Season 8 of D&D Encounters begins on Wednesday, February 22. This adventure coincides with Wizards of the Coast’s latest product offering, Heroes of the Elemental Chaos which hits shelves on February 21.
Below is a high-level overview of what you can expect during the coming season of D&D Encounters. It relatively spoiler-free.
Out with the old and in with the new. Today we debut our new banner. The original banner served its purpose but after three years we felt a change was in order. The only problem was that none of the members of the Dungeon’s Master team have the artistic skill needed to create the artwork. So we enlisted some help.
Our friend Winston Lew, a regular at D&D Encounters, recently graduated from college and is beginning his professional career as a freelance illustrator. For the past few seasons of D&D Encounters we’ve seen Winston’s character sketches and they’ve been fantastic. So when we decided it was time to find an artist to help design a new banner we knew Winston was our man. We weren’t sure what we wanted but when we saw Winston’s initial treatment we knew he nailed it. The final product that graces our website now absolutely exceeded our expectations.
This is it – the final week of D&D Encounter: Beyond the Crystal Cave. The heroes just defeated the devil Kalbon and ascend the watery staircase to the upper level of Soryth’s fortress. When they reached the top of the staircase they spotted a beautiful Fey woman before them wandering among the statues in the garden. To the left the PCs saw Juliana, unconscious on a mound in the nearby garden.
The woman, clearly the Hag Soryth, turned towards the party and spoke to them. “No longer have we cause for conflict. I have what I desire, and forgive your trespasses. Serve me, and I shall grant your fondest wishes.”
With another season of D&D Encounters coming to an end this week we’ve been having some discussions at my FLGS about who’s going to take over the reigns as the DM for the next season. I continue to volunteer my services as the primary DM at two FLGS in my community, but in both cases we have sufficient numbers to need additional DMs pretty much every week. During the discussion about who will step up to DM more than one prospective DM asked about compensation. They wanted to know what they got if they agreeing to DM. At first I was a bit surprised that they’d even ask, but as I gave the question more consideration I realized that it’s not an altogether unreasonable question.
At the very end of last week’s encounter the PCs managed to open the doors to Soryth’s Palace of Spires with the help of their reflections from the pool. This week we pick up at that exact spot. The PCs got the benefits of a short rest last week after the fight in the garden, but before solving the puzzle to open the doors. So fully recovered (or at least as much as possible given their dwindling healing surges) they proceeded.
Looking through the now opened doorway the PCs could see a great hall beyond. Bright light shone through skylights illuminating the room. At the end of the hall was a fountain in which two jets of water spiraled upward through the air as if the water was alive. To one side of the hall was a table with four chairs and set with a crystal decanter and four glasses. On the right and left side of the hallways were two doors, squawking sounds emanating from the one on the left.
Before the PCs could pass through the now open doors, statues on either side of the door, carved to look like Elvin maidens with scimitars again intoned in unison “Enter in peace,” the same phrase they uttered after the PCs opened the doors at the end of last week’s session.
Over the past couple seasons of D&D Encounters I’ve had the opportunity to play with a lot of new players. Many of these players (usually the younger ones) were completely new to D&D or any RPG for that matter. While some of the DMs have found it frustrating to run tables with so many inexperienced players, I’ve found it to be quite rewarding.
During this time I’ve come up some guidelines for running games with new players. Although I put these together to help me manage tables of newbies, many of these points are still good to keep in mind when running any table, no matter how much experience your players have.
After navigating the hedge maze and fighting the thieving Boggles, the PCs took a short rest before using their four plant keys to activate the magical sundial gate. The maze around them began to spin until the hedge maze disappeared and the PCs found themselves in a garden just outside the Palace of Spires.
A shallow pool was in the middle of the garden, with flowerbeds on either side. On the opposite side were silvery double doors that led into the magnificent white palace. Two burly humans dressed in leather armor and wielding greataxes approached the PCs, their intent clearly hostile. Three Xivorts and a Boggle also present in the garden cheered encouragement at the two axemen as they approached the PCs.
After battling the Xivorts during the night, the PCs managed to complete their extended rest and began this week’s adventure at 100%. Knowing that the Hag Soryth was expecting them, they hurried to storm her Palace of Spires where they planned to free Juliana and stop Kalabon and Soryth from completing their evil plans for Porpherio’s Isle.
The heroes entered the hedge maze and began to follow the path of least resistance. One of the Pixies tried to fly above the hedges to get a better vantage point of the maze, but as soon as he got above the foliage he felt dizzy and experienced vertigo. As soon as he landed his head cleared and he was fine to continue. Clearly the magic of the maze worked to keep flying creatures grounded.
Numerous paths opened to the right and left, but the party managed to continue on what they believed was the correct path with few delays or the need for backtracking. After about 15 minutes of navigating the maze the PCs found themselves at a crossroads. The path to the north was lined with yellow roses, the path to the east was lined with white roses and the path to the south was lined with red roses. The aroma from the flowers was overpowering and mildly disserting. The white and red roses gave off a heavy scent whereas the yellow roses gave off a sweet scent. In order to continue the PCs needed to choose one of these three paths.
Last week the PCs found Orlando (fused with Propherio) and defeated the Verbeeg Basal who was trying to kill him. After the contest of champions in which the PCs emerged victorious, Basal rewarded the party with a magical item and then agreed to accompany them and Orlando back to Uma.
The return trip back to Uma’s grove took a couple of hours and by the time they got there, night was upon them. When they reached their destination they saw Uma with her Nymphs and Pixies on the eastern bank and Ragnar with his Satyrs and Wilden on the western bank with the Treant, Sir Oakstaff, straddling the stream between he two groups.
Uma and Ragnar shouted insults and blame at each other with Oakstaff trying to mediate a resolution. As they noticed the PCs approach with Orlando and Basal the bickering stopped. Uma bade Orland come to her so that she could protect him and mend his wounded mind. Ragnar meanwhile demanded that the PCs bring Orlando to him. Oakstaff once again called for peace.
Remember the old D&D Cartoon from the 80s? Six kids are magically transported into the world of Dungeons & Dragons where they fight the forces of evil while trying to find a way home. (See the cartoon intro below). In the cartoon the Dungeons Master was an actual character. He would appear at the beginning of each episode and provide the heroes with a quest; in much the same way the DM does during an actual game of D&D. The DM served as the guide for the characters in the show and the viewers at home. He’d also step in from time to time and give the characters advice or help them out of a really tight jam.
In 4e D&D the DM is not one NPC, rather the DM takes on the roles of every NPC. But wouldn’t it make things easier if Dungeon Master actually was an NPC in your game?