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Post by Yugo Ryan on Sept 18, 2018 5:05:10 GMT -5
I spotted the NTWF D&D group thread up in...what, Forum Events, I think?, and it dawned on me that evidently I'm not the only D&D player around these parts. So, I figured, "why not start a thread where everybody can share some D&D stories". Since I'm starting the thread, I figure I may as well get the ball rolling. I've got more, but one is enough for the moment.
So, around early-mid 2016 I finally DM'ed my first campaign with my weekly gaming group. It was a 3.5e campaign, and I'd spent something like 3-5 years fussing over minor details that pretty much ended up not mattering anyway. The plot revolved around a string of fetch quests that were focused on gathering four magic artifacts created by the most brilliant mage in the world's history, Cagliostro. The artifacts were, essentially, the four fragments of a demon called "the Unborn" that had infected the will of arcane magic, and were tied to the four classical elements. The pieces were scattered around the continent the campaign was set in and because of that, arcane magic had been growing weaker over the last thousand years.
And then, a bunch of dwarves found a shrine devoted to the earth artifact, so the party was rounded up and sent to check it out. We ended up with a barbarian, a bard, a red wizard, a ranger, and a tangled mess of a cleric/rogue/fighter (who openly planned to betray and murder the red wizard on a borderline Starscream level). As the campaign chugs along, they end up forming alliances with the local bandit king, the most potent diviner on the continent, and a highly-skilled information broker, wandering into a hidden elven village concealed by a magical mist after washing up on a deserted island several days away from the mainland, falling out of a flying tower and landing in a swamp, foiling an assassination attempt, and then started heading toward a semi-active volcano. In that order.
So, they get to the desert leading to this volcano, and after nearly coming to blows with the bandit king (again), it starts to occur to some of the party members that these things...MAYBE shouldn't be brought together, what with three different factions trying to gather them and all. The party's red wizard, and the one actually carrying these artifacts, doesn't buy into this theory and insists it's for the good of magic to reassemble these artifacts.
About a week later, the bard pulls me aside and expresses concern over the wizard's intentions. Of course, knowing that when these artifacts all come together the demon will be freed, I sandbag these concerns. But, he insisted that if it would come down to it, he would be willing to throw down against the wizard on this. The ranger also pulls me aside and says something similar.
And then, the next week, the barbarian pulls me aside. "My character's not stupid, if the wizard gets all four of these artifacts together and he can't handle them, I'll be prepared to fight him."
So I send him to get the bard and the ranger. We have a short, private, discussion detailing their plan if control of the artifacts goes sideways. We hold the session for the week and, after dealing with a group of elite mercenaries over control of the first artifact that they had failed to actually hold onto, they negotiate their way into acquiring the last of the artifacts. Once a voice, not belonging to the wizard holding the artifacts starts to speak, it comes out that every member of the party had, independently of each other, planned to betray the wizard. His reaction was one of the highlights of the entire campaign, if I do say so myself.
In any case, the voice, presenting itself as a teenage boy, talks its way out of the standoff with the rest of the party, in favor of them dealing with a usurper of the city they were in, which was the daughter of the previous ruler who had been in hiding for the last 7 years, since she was 10, who swooped in (literally, on the back of a powerful dragon) to take advantage of the city-wide chaos to take the position of leader for herself. That night, the wizard is possessed by the demon and leaves town with the rogue/cleric/fighter in tow as a minion and, in short, became the unwilling final boss of the campaign.
All because he was too confident in his ability to control a bunch of ancient magic artifacts.
So, what are your favorite stories from D&D? 5th edition, 1st edition, 3rd, 3.5, whatever. Pick your poison and share your stories.
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Post by Thorn on Sept 18, 2018 8:17:47 GMT -5
You're definitely not the only d&d player, there are a lot of us around these parts. Thanks for making this super cool thread! =D That story's amazing! I hope the wizard's roleplayer was happy with that because dang, if that's not a satisfying arc, I dunno what is! I can't top this but I would like to contribute something, cos I have a lot of stories, so hmmm...maybe a short anecdote? So once in my second group (we had a halfling rogue, dragonborn cleric, human warlock, and I was a half-orc ranger), we all went into a cave to retrieve an ancient magical sword created to destroy demons. Because the setting was having a big problem with demons and undead, as ya do. So that was pretty straightforward.
Through a series of mishaps, some of us got separated from the others. From memory the warlock and cleric were together, the others were on their own. Okay, so that was a bit more nerve-racking, but I trusted our DM not to wreck us outright.
Then while I was controlling my character, off wandering on their own and skirmishing with kobolds, a duplicate of my character walked up to the warlock and cleric all like "Yo, hey guys!" (I got to play this character after the original Reveal- it was really fun, the warlock and cleric eventually had duplicates too, and we each got to play the one of our own character.)
Since nothing seemed amiss, my ranger happily went along with the cleric's duplicate. Until as the duplicate was leaving the cave, I rolled a check of some kind, and my DM pointed out "he seems shorter than normal."
At which point my ranger realised they'd goofed. The rogue came flying out of a side tunnel on some kind of natural slide all like WHEEE THAT WAS FUN, ranger panicked at them a bit, and long story short our campaign ended up with a new final boss! And I got a cool magic sword out of the whole thing. It was a win-win!
(This final boss is TERRIFYING and I'm scared of facing him- I'll be rejoining the group for that- but we call him...Not-Kriv, which somewhat spoils the effect.)
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Post by Yugo Ryan on Sept 24, 2018 4:19:10 GMT -5
That story's amazing! I hope the wizard's roleplayer was happy with that because dang, if that's not a satisfying arc, I dunno what is! Oh, he absolutely was. He's said on several occasions that the character was one of his favorite characters to play (if not his absolute favorite), and jumped at the chance to bring the character back in for the finale of the second campaign I ran (he'd been revived into a construct body in the aftermath of the first campaing). We even still occasionally call back to that whole fiasco. To this day, he insists he made the right call.
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Post by Celestial on Feb 4, 2019 7:20:25 GMT -5
Sharing a few stories here to revive this thread. None of there are from the NTWF DnD group: those stories can be found on their own thread. This is from a non-forum group.
The HOLE My group are exploring the tunnels beneath a warehouse. We encounter a hole in the middle of the path. Since there does not appear to be any way around the hole, our rogue decides to wrap a rope around their waist and leap across, forming a rope bridge. An acrobatics check is called for. "Oh boy, I'm really good at acrobatics!" *rolls* Nat 1. The rogue falls into the hole. We try to grab the rope to stop this but all roll badly on our strength checks, even our strength based ranger. We are only saved from all going into the hole by the (normally not beefy) warlock rolling really high.
After a lot of failed attempts by the rogue to climb out of the hole- the hole had really slippery, smooth walls- we finally manage to get them out by lowering another rope in. We try the plan again, this time with the rogue jumping over the hole with as much boosting as possible. They succeed but just barely. My cleric is up next. He, being a knowledge cleric, channels divinity in athletics and gives himself guidance. Still rolls a two. Goes into the hole, just barely suspended over it. Has to be pulled out. The same thing happens to the ranger. Then our warlock goes. Our warlock with a -1 on dex and poor strength. Rolls really high and just casually leaps over.
We later found out that it is a portable hole and we could have just folded it up and put it in our pockets if our warlock had just cast detect magic (he can do it an unlimited amount of times). A good laugh was had, but we also missed out on cool loot.
That was our story of amazing failure. Now, amazing success:
Payback
Different characters, same group of people playing. This time I am playing a bard. The context is that we were given a mission by an earth genasi girl (who my bard finds very attractive) to go rescue her brother who has been taken hostage in a mine by two duergar working together with her abusive ex-fiance who worked in the mine. After a lot of difficulty (including using minor illusion and shapeshifting to manage to successfully decieve the duergar that the noise of one of our party failing a stealth check was just a cat chasing a canary...which was swiftly undone by a nat 1 on a stealth check from me) we defeat the duergar and go to where the prisoners are. We find the brother and the jerk ex who is pretending to be one of the prisoners.
My bard goes up to him and goes "Oh thank goodness, we have come to rescue you (since he's a bigwig in the mine) come with us!" Rolls really high on deception and the dude comes with us. As soon as he is out, the bard (thanks to another high roll) delivers a swift kick to his groin (I could barely say it due to laughing too hard). Abusive ex falls over in pain and the bard gives him another kick. Screams and berates him for being awful to the earth genasi girl before warning him to stay away or else. To emphasise this threat, earlier in the game, thanks to some Blackadder references, my bard picked up a turnip that was an inappropriate shape. Originally I was just going to snap it across my knee but our artificer had a vial of acid. She gives my bard the acid and the bard slowly...dips the turnip into the vial while maintaining eye contact. Did not even need to roll an intimidation check for that: DM decided that was intimidating enough.
Then the police come in, and the bard says that the ex-fiance was working with the duergar and can prove it. An investigation check ensues to try to find evidence. Natural 20. The evidence is indisputable. Dude is locked up for life.
The team are heroes and the bard gets together with the earth genasi girl (though said bard is too immature for a relationship so it was only a one night thing, though it was cute). Good feelings all around. \o/
EDIT: This is barely a story but I could mention it anyway, given how often it seems to happen to DnD groups.
BILLY
Yet another campaign (in this group, three separate people take turns DMing). We have just stepped outside after getting some information regarding an artifact the mafia grandma of one of our party tasked us with finding. The ranger had left her cart outside and it was...mostly unharmed except for some graffiti: Billy wuz ere. Casting speak with animals on the mule with the cart only revealed that Billy was a small child, "had some good grass" and that the mule sounded like an old hillbilly hick.
We now joke that Billy is the final boss of this entire campaign. Everything that happens is now the doing of Billy. (Or our wild magic disaster tiefling sorcerer who keeps rolling Nat1s and has transported us to the feywild on purpose but she is another story altogether.)
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Post by Thorn on Mar 1, 2019 19:05:57 GMT -5
You know what? I am going to share a EuroAtlantis story here, because it's Too Good. EuroAtlantis (NTWFDND party I DM for)So the party had just defeated a centaur warlock again near a recently destroyed village. One of the occupants of this ruined village, Tyzol the dragonborn NPC, was frustrated and angry that the party captured the warlock instead of killing him. So when Anthony (Thundy's bard) suggested they go get some drinks together, she told him about the stash back at her place, and off they went! It would have gone so very well, if only Tyzol hadn't agreed to drink what Anthony offered her instead of her own stockpile. "Hey why are we like this? It's only been ten minutes. Is that the dwarven stuff?" "It's...uh-oh... wasp poison??!!" Several sessions back, Anthony filled an empty wine bottle with poison from a giant wasp's stinger. He labelled it 'do not drink!' and yet...here we were. I hurriedly looked up the stats for the giant wasp to determine WUT DOOOOOO? In the end, they both failed a CON save and took a bunch of damage. Both still mercifully conscious, the two ran off in a literally blind panic in search of Celes' warlock, Meallan- who is a grumpy fellow at the best of times and thus clearly the best person to ask for aid. Regardless, with a Nat 20, he found a convenient bottle labelled 'wasp poison antidote', and a crisis was averted! ...but oh noes! Tyzol was mad at Anthony. How do fix??? After a sidequest which we need not linger over (i.e. the actual plot), Anthony returned to serenade Tyzol by blaring romantic music from his phone speakers. She forgave him, and they went drinking for real this time. (and honestly, Thundy , I still hear you shouting 'Tyzol!!!!' in THAT voice whenever I have to type her name) Neighborhood Watch (another party I DM for)It was session three, and after our cleric dropped out we found a replacement player, who joined with a druid. The ranger and fighter, already somewhat accustomed to each other, were wandering around town gathering leads on an evil wizard when they caught news of a stranger staying at the inn.
TOWNMASTER: "Tall, grey skin, kinda sparkly? Like a walking rock."
ROVEN, wood-elf ranger: "Right!"
Roven barged into the inn where the druid, whose species the party was (and still are) uncertain of, was sitting quietly at the bar and listening to some conversation. Roven pranced right up to him and said: "Hey, sparkly man! Do you want to help us kill a wizard?"
...understandably, Grant was a bit confused by this filthy, ragged, exceptionally cheerful elf, who he had never seen before in his life, asking him to go questing with them.
To this day, Roven and So-Kehur don't know what Grant actually is, and by this point it's too awkward to ask. So-Kehur knows he bleeds light instead of actual blood, which is convenient because our melee fighter can't stand gore. Grant also bought a book on planestouched beings, so if any of the others were paying attention they could maybe guess he's a genasi, guys, come on. (his name is a pun- Grant, because he looks like granite. Also genasi, genie, wish-granting, all that stuff.) It Would Have Been a Dramatic Moment (with a group I play the rogue in)River (genasi ranger) confiding in Zazz (my drow rogue): "...I think that was the first time I've killed a person."
Zazz: "Mmm. Yeah. I find it helps if you don't think of them that way!"
River: "..."
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Post by Celestial on Mar 3, 2019 17:31:55 GMT -5
This happened tonight.
There were six of us, all level 5. Playing a paladin. We were fighting a homebrew monster called The Grey King (which I later found out was a heavily modified vampire) with a CR of around 14, though we did not know this at the time. For reasons, my paladin was feeling very uncertain about her keeping her Oath, so much so that she had to roll wisdom saves to cast any spells because she was not sure if she was an Oathbreaker or not. Therefore she was very keen to destroy any threats or creepy things, which this thing was. It was grey mist with several jars surrounding it, all entrapped in a circle. The circle is especially important. It was also whispering to us telepathically.
We began combat. I knew that I was going to be burning through all my spell slots doing Divine Smites and I was. I was rolling quite well, doing good damage to it with a combination of divine smites and a magical weapon. All the while, I was staying outside the circle, because you don't have to be clever to realise that bad things would happen in it. However, I soon failed an intelligence save on a spell and took quite a bit of damage as well as becoming unable to see the creature so could not really act for my turn except to heal myself and buff my AC a bit using shield of faith.
It cast another spell, however, ruining its concentration on keeping me trapped in that illusory plane. By now, however, it had moved into the circle because it had taken quite a bit of damage. When it came to my turn, I only had one ranged attack and used it, again with divine smite. But I had a second attack.
So I decided heck with it, drew my longsword and stepped into the circle. Rushed the Grey King and stabbed down, using my last spell slot to cast divine smite.
Wisdom save. 16.
Roll attack. Natural 20.
13 radiant damage, 10 piercing damage, 4 fire damage, all doubled. That's a total of 54 points of damage.
The Grey King is smote in divine fire, leaving my swan paladin standing there having pierced through its container.
The DM tells me that if it was not for that crit, I would probably have been dead the moment I stepped into the circle. Because the Grey King could cast some high level spells. Previously it had cast Mental Prison on me and then cast Maddening Darkness. Level 6 and Level 8 spells. Outside the circle, the spell effects were halved. Inside, it was full on. My level 5 paladin, who was not at full HP, could have been knocked out by a single full power spell had I not rolled that crit.
So that's how my swan paladin, through zeal, divine power and sheer luck, managed to take down a god-like being while giving my DM a heart attack in the process.
EDIT: DM also informed me today that the crit killed it by a mere 2 points of damage. 2 POINTS. If I had gotten 3 points of damage less on my strike, I'd be dead.
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Post by Thundy on Mar 4, 2019 16:20:20 GMT -5
I got one from my old group. So my character is a human Mage called Adrastos. Only he isn't really a mage, he flunked out of the mage academy and now sells knock off potions in a seedy district of town. His shop is called Adrastos' Discount Potions. He has a business rival whom he dislikes intensely, who runs the nearby Dan's Basic Potions. As a result of many high persuade rolls and an ongoing joke, Adrastos managed to impersonate Dan in many compromising situations.
Thugs attempt to rob the party? "You want somebody to rob? Go to Dan's Basic Potions!"
Fighting the wererat and his rat hoard? "Hey buddy, you want to infest somewhere? Go to Dan's Basic Potions!"
Renting a horse to travel to the next town? "I've got lots of collateral at my shop, Dan's Basic Potions, just go take whatever you need!"
The DM keeps warning me that this might eventually result in consequences, and I quote "such as a couple of hired goons coming to find the Dan impersonator"
Adrastos will not stop
he will ruin Dan's business at all costs
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Post by Yugo Ryan on Mar 12, 2019 7:32:55 GMT -5
A short one from the campaign in the first post, after returning to the mainland from the hidden elven village, the party heard that the city known for its love of combat sports was about to host their tournament to determine the next leader. Three of the party members (specifically, the barbarian, red wizard, and the cleric/fighter/rogue) decided to participate. I think they were hoping to land some connections if they won, I dunno.
The tournament itself was full of throwbacks to characters I had run previously in campaigns, including a fighter that specialized in tripping attacks, a pro-wrestling dwarf, hyper-zealous 40k-esque fire cleric, a blind monk (who had won the two previous tournaments), and some experimental builds such as a double tower-shield-wielding fighter, a mage that set landmine-styled traps (Earthbound Spell feat from 3.5 for the curious), and a greatsword-n-board fighter.
Our red wizard was the first PC to compete, and faced the trip fighter. He fared the best of the three, but still lost his match. Our barbarian was next, and was soundly defeated by the monk (who would go on to win for the third time). Last was our cleric/fighter/rogue.
One thing to know about that character is that she was the only party member of an evil alignment and was on a short leash controlled by the red wizard. She had at some point acquired an ability called Profane Lifeleech, which drained 1d6 damage from everything around her, friend and foe alike, and healed her for the total amount. It couldn't drop someone below 0 HP, but could still be nasty in certain situations.
So, this character ended up facing the fire cleric, and was soundly outclassed. In a desperate play to win the match, she decided to use this ability to hold the crowd hostage. "You continue this fight, and I will use this ability on everyone I can." The fire cleric, zealous as she was, still valued the safety of the innocent bystanders, and so threw down her sword in defeat. This evil character was the only one to make it to the second round, and promptly got her backside handed to her on a platter by a summoning specialist that stayed invisible the entire match.
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Post by Thorn on Jun 23, 2019 18:49:50 GMT -5
Yesterday I ran the first session of a Scooby Doo-esque campaign. The party are called the Inspectres, their 'mystery machine' the Voltergeist. While at a fair, the wizard found himself chased by Todd the Undead Maintenance Worker (who the college student party knew was a wight because of Supernatural Studies 101.)
ME (as DM): Interestingly, as he charges you he switches the saw out of his dominant hand. WIZARD (ooc:) Why would he...AH THAT'S NOT GOOD, I summon the Voltergeist, climb inside, and lock the doors.
And thus a spectral car materialised out of thin air, the wizard Frederic scrambled inside, and neatly avoided a Life Drain!
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Post by Thorn on Dec 25, 2020 3:49:55 GMT -5
Reviving this thread to share a few Small Stories about my aasimar paladin Astrophelle, because the campaign is on a break right now but I have lots of Feelings about her!!! =( Those of you I speak with regularly would have heard all or most of these already. xD I do like to talk about my characters...probably way too much. *There's a cool paladin lady called Sky who has been with the party from the start...well, except for the time she died right at the start of the campaign. But that was quickly sorted! Good thing too, as Astro has idolised her since before her death, and recently developed a bit of a crush on her. They have been a little bit cute, with Sky inviting Astro to tea even though she herself does not like the stuff (because Astro LOVES tea!); and the two of them sharing a tent on the road instead of Astro sharing with her brother like she normally would. In the aftermath of a dramatic battle recently, one of the first things Astro did was ask around about Sky to ensure she hadn't been badly hurt or killed! Sky also gave Astro the identity of the person the group was working to un-curse, which she admitted her temple didn't want Sky to tell any of the party. They are fun together and I like their dynamic a lot.
Except...last session ended with the revelation Sky is a deep scion, who has ambushed and is about to try and kill Astrophelle's brother. Astro doesn't know yet, and I don't entirely know how she'll take it, but definitely exciting times in this game!!
(adding extra drama: when Sky confirmed she would rejoin the party for the current quest, Astro promised to do everything she can to prevent her death during the adventure. But now stuff is getting murkier. I hope she can still make good on this promise!)
*Astrophelle's angelic guide Evlavei, after a lifetime of pushing Astrophelle to be the best most helpful person she can be, admitted to being afraid that she will take on more than she can handle one day, and never come back. They had a nice heartfelt conversation about this, which ended in an awkward hi-five. The very next day, Astrophelle died in combat after failing to talk down her adversary. After she was revived, she met with the angel again, who was crying. </3 She spent the meeting comforting him, reassuring him that she doesn't think he's a failure, and assuring him he's still her favourite angel.
They have not met again since then. I am curious to see whether anything has changed or whether he will be back to acting Wise and Confident as though nothing ever happened. xD
*One time the party needed to break into a house to do some Detectiveing. The druid and wizard had magical means of doing so but Astro and her fighter brother...not so much. So the two of them stayed outside in the fishing village and went on a 'fishmonger crawl', travelling from fishmonger to fishmonger and sampling different fish. It was the most sheer ridiculous fun I've ever had with this character, haha. They took turns paying, and just bantering/bickering...many sibling...such fun!
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