…the generosity of strangers.
In case you missed it, here is where we left off. Despite Nevan’s efforts, a couple of bounty hunters got the best of him and were in the process of transporting him north when their wagon was attacked by a mysterious force. Shortly after being thrown out of the cart and knocked unconscious again Nevan awakens to realize there is a new figure in the woods and they seem to be assisting in his escape. Dressed in dark and dirty robes the short figure of a man repeatedly vanishes into thin air, but also appears to send shockwaves through the earth and even push giant boulders out of the ground.
Rolf the beast spends much of his time confused and unable to act without direction from Lefty who takes a beating early on. Before she succumbs to her blows, Lefty manages to give Rolf one last command, “Flee”.
Injured, but stable, Nevan then confronts the mysterious newcomer. Why had he bothered to help Nevan?
Quite simply, the man needs a favor. He seems to struggle as he speaks, only strong enough to speak or summon a physical form. Never both. But his proposition is clear. Nevan isn’t safe anymore, but there is somewhere that he can be guaranteed anonymity and protection from his pursuers. It is unclear what the man needs, but as he disappears for the final time, a letter appears in his place.
The envelope is sealed with an elegant stamp in the shape of a “Z”. Inside are two items. A short, but formal letter that states, “For your consideration. We welcome you to audit the services available from the world’s leader in captive management. ~ The Zidovi Prison.” There is also a simple map with a location marked far to the south.
Left shaken by the encounter, Nevan finds refuge for the night in an abandoned building nearby.
The following morning Nevan sets out to get his bearings, and quickly comes across a scene where an old man has fallen prey to a bandit and his hawk. Weighing his options, Nevan decides to go in for a sneak attack. In a matter of moments the hooligan is killed and the old man saved.
Wishing to properly thank Nevan, the old man leads them back to Hull’s Basin and what remains of his former workshop attached to the Blacksmith & Leatherworks building. It turns out that he had in fact rented out some of his space for Lefty and Rolf, but only to make some extra cash. Admittedly the two struck him as unusual, but he really needed the money. He still has one of the coins they paid him with and, sure enough, Nevan recognizes it as a coin from the north.
In his younger years, the old man had been a talented swordsmith. Most of his inventory is long gone, but he offers Nevan a choice of four custom rapiers. Ultimately Nevan settles on one suited to his needs as both a man who needs to move about undetected, and a man who occasionally needs to do some damage.
- The Gimp’s Avenger:
- Disguised as a common cane The Gimp’s Avenger sheaths a blade capable of catching any would-be adversary off guard.
- The user gains advantage on To Hit rolls the first time they use this weapon in each encounter.
- If the character’s weapons are ever confiscated, they may opt to keep The Gimp’s Avenger if it’s true from is unknown to the other party.
- +5 To Hit.
- 1d10+2 piercing damage.
And here the session ends.
Behind the Scenes: Tabletop Simulator
I tried a bunch of new things on my second shot at DM-ing. The most ambitious undertaking was the use of Tabletop Simulator for the initial encounter with Rolf, Lefty, and the mysterious figure. I listed a few of my initial opinions in a previous post, but now I can speak more to actual gameplay.
Overall, I highly recommend checking the product out. Even if you don’t plan to use it in-game, it is a lot of fun to design small 3d worlds complete with physics and some basic animations. So, here’s my updated list of Pros and Cons.
Pros
- As much as D&D is a “theater of the mind”, sometimes you don’t want to keep describing every little detail. This especially helps when addressing character interactions. you can always see just how far away you are, which way you’re facing, and if there’s anything in between.
- It looks really really cool. I have no intention of using this frequently, but certainly for more important encounters. You also have to keep in mind that space is limited. You’ll probably not want to let your characters have access to the whole open world during the encounter. Unless you’re okay with them simply walking away from the fight. In this particular case, I had Lefty’s restraint spell lose a little control, but still keep Nevan trapped within a certain radius.
- The grid! No more guessing at distances. The scale of my tabletop was a little wacky, but we decided that each hexagon would represent five feet. This was my first time dealing with a grid system, and it really helped determine the characters’ movements.
- Variety. As silly as it sounds, sometimes you need to mix it up. I haven’t been doing this long, so everything is new, but I’m more than happy to include this with my bag of tricks.
Cons
- It is a little distracting and takes away from some of the storytelling. As much as I love it for the “cool” factor, I think that relying on it could become a bit of a crutch. Once the encounter was done I realized that my brain had shifted out of storytelling mode, and into more of a video game mode. Since we had started the session with by testing out the simulator, I never really got to warm up my brain and didn’t every really get in the groove of playing DM. That being said, I’m sure this will all improve over time.
- Like I said in my previous post. It’s not free, but I think it’s worth it.
Check out a few screenshots and see for yourself.
