In recent weeks, I have written a number of articles that have touched base on the “Neverwinter” video game. Today’s writeup will go towards a smaller, more local story surrounding the game. Having been away from the tabletop Dungeons & Dragons scene for a while and having plenty of inspiration in storytelling from the popular DnD adapted video game, I decided to return to the tabletop game as the Dungeon Master for a game I will be running right from the comfort of my own home.
I presented my party with a number of campaigns to choose from. Because the party I’m dealing with is not only new to each other, but largely inexperienced to DnD as a whole, I decided to exclude Neverwinter’s more complex, lengthy campaigns in favor of a few options that were a bit shorter. I offered my party the choice between running the Sharandar, Icewind Dale and Dread Ring campaigns. After a bit of deliberation, following my description of these campaigns, the party decided to choose the Sharandar campaign.
The party, as of now, is fairly balanced: We’ve got a Control Wizard, a Trickster Rogue, a Great Weapon Fighter, a Hunter Ranger and the wildcard in our Oathbound Paladin. I should reiterate that these players are mostly fairly inexperienced, though I did run a Pathfinder campaign with the player behind the Paladin just a little over a year ago, so that player has been with me for a game before and has a fair understanding of the basics of how the game goes. That said, this very Paladin serves as a wildcard, as previously mentioned, because the player behind the Paladin wishes to use them as a hybrid, combining a Tank and a Healer. While such a blend is exceedingly rare, I think that once the party is truly comfortable with their roles, such a composition could shine.
We held our first session just this past Saturday. While I truly do enjoy managing these sessions, i.e., handling storytelling with the party, controlling the NPCs, enemies and allies, and I take intrigue in observing the decision making, I also like telling the story of what happened from my own perspective, in each individual session. So, below is a recap of the session I ran:
Names of characters present: Discord (Male Paladin), Arle ( Female Control Wizard), Auroriana (Female Hunter Ranger) and Sneaks (Male Rogue)
Starting setting: a small meadow with sharply and vastly trimmed grass. With the sun having set, it would seem to be later in the evening in an unknown location. The wind lightly blows.
In the middle of the small meadow sits a massive, legendary blue Dragon. The party does not know who the Dragon is, but the Dragon is feared and revered throughout the Sword Coast not only for who he is, but for who controls him…
“You’ve stepped into my killing grounds… Hrm hrm…” The Dragon bellowed, glaring at Sneaks, who stood a good dozen or so feet away. To Sneaks’ left was Auroriana, to Sneaks’ right was Arle.
Scared, the party, having little other choice, engaged the mighty Dragon. Predictably, it did not start off very well. Before he could even move, an entity behind Sneaks whispered in his ear “Your soul… will be mine!” Before Sneaks lost all autonomy in his own body, being lifted into the air from some Psionic force behind him. Immediately, he began to get suffocated. Shortly after, he began to lose all feeling in his body. Helpless, all he could do was dangle in the air, powerless to free himself.
Unfortunately, the party, intimidated by the Dragon, hardly noticed Sneaks’ predicament. Arle jumped the gun, conjuring a Magic Missile right for the Dragon. Even through Arle’s adeptness with the Elemental Arts, the three Magic Missiles seemingly bounced right off the Dragon, who roared in response at Arle. It is uncertain if the Roar was out of amusement or anger. Auroriana channeled the power of the Marauder inside of her, rushing forward and swinging at the Dragon with her daggers with all of her might. But much like Arle’s Arcane Magic, the Dragon shrugged the blow off with ease. The Dragon turned towards Arle, and let out a massive breath of electricity. It was all Arle could do to survive the onslaught, and she ever so barely did. Clinging on to dear life, Arle laid on the ground, doing all she could to remain conscious. Meanwhile, the Dragon turned towards Auroriana and did largely the same thing, with largely the same result. The devastation nearly overwhelmed Auroriana, who could do little but use her remaining energy to keep her awake.
Meanwhile, Sneaks’ situation was deteriorating just as rapidly. Grasping at nothing, kicking uselessly while being bound in the air and quickly running out of life, Sneaks could only watch as the Dragon made mincemeat out of his friends. At that moment, the figure behind him leaned in close and uttered a harsh, simple line:
“Die, die, die mortal!” The seemingly feminine voice uttered harshly
… And at that moment, Sneaks woke up with a loud gasp. Heart beating, he was amazed and relieved that the horrible experience was but a mere nightmare.
He was woken by a knock on the door. The knock on the door was a Neverwinter messenger. The messenger delivered a Call to Arms issued to the party by none other than Sergeant Knox. To sum it up, Knox had requested the party speak to a diplomat who had visited the city of Neverwinter from the city of New Sharandar. Upon consulting with the diplomat by the name of Illiyasha Guidingster, the party quickly stocked up on potions from the Seven Suns Market before entering the portal to Sharandar. Upon coming out the other side of the portal, the party found the beauty that is the outskirts of New Sharandar; nothing but nature, beautiful wildlife and luscious green for miles.
The party travelled down a narrow pathway, observing the beauty for about half an hour. Down the road, they encountered an Iliyanbruen Scout, seemingly distressed. Upon consulting with the scout, the party learned that a pack of Trolls down the pathway had captured a few of his fellow scouts, and had planned to make meals out of them. The party deliberated, and eventually decided to help the scout.
The party encountered and engaged a small pack of four Trolls, one a normal sized Troll with the other three being smaller than the average Troll. Before reaching the pack of Trolls, they had a scout strapped by rope to a stick next to a large pot of dirty boiling water. The party engaged the Trolls and defeated them fairly easily. They released the scout, who promptly ran to reunite with his friend.
Sneaks decided to take a dirty, soggy towel the big Troll had worn around its waist and add it to his inventory for some reason.
That’s where the story left off. We’ll be back at it again this Saturday, and will be continuously doing so for Saturdays to come!