Dungeons & Dragons Next Session 1

Okay... this was an exercise in frustration. First there was the usual "New System" issues, frustrated by the fact the rules are just familiar enough to make us unsure of the changes. a 20 sided die is used for nearly everything, just like 3rd edition and higher, the stats have attribute bonuses, like 3rd edition and higher, you have spell slots, like... wait... no, those are different... Well, the saving... nope, no saving throws or skills... no critical hit rules... okay, lets discuss it as things happened.

Frustrations and hassles getting everyone registered for the playtest. Once that was handled I had to molly-coddle one of my players who was VERY unhappy with the fact he was "being forced to play someone else's idea of a character" because all of the characters are pregenerated for the moment. Once that was handled and everyone had a basic understanding of their characters we began.

Since the setting was left completely up to the GM and his group, I decided, with the encouragement of my party, to run with the unfinished feel of the rules. The Keep that would serve as our home base is known as Keep [ERROR: NAME NOT FOUND], with Captain as the military leader, the Inn of the Shattered Shaft (the bar we got started in) is on Street, so on so forth. Even the players got in on the unfinished fun, with our wizard going by the name Alt-e For (Alt+F4) who seemed to be in a constant state of log-in limbo.

Once we began our game and headed towards the beginning area of the quest, I described the area between there and the keep as "an 8-bit, unfinished landscape" that suddenly became beautifully 3D rendered landscape we they reached the Scar where the monsters were known to originate.

After a, not so, pleasant discussion about which cave to begin exploring, they decided and headed towards the one closest to the mouth of the canyon. Standing outside the cave mouth, they began fighting among themselves as the wizard tried to cast light upon EVERYBODY, simply because he could cast it at will. This commotion brought the group to the attention of the goblins who lived inside.

These goblins took advantage of the situation and brought the caster to deaths door. After a hard fought near loss, where the goblins continued to bring in reinforcements, the party had to fight an ogre. Once the fight was won, the party limped back to Keep [ERROR: NAME NOT FOUND] to recuperate and regroup before their next foray.

Now that we covered how the adventure went, let us discuss the rules. Here is where we had some issues. There is a new mechanic called "Advantage" that is described in the very loosest terms, leaving EVERYTHING about it to the game master. Advantage allows you to roll one extra D20 for combat, keeping the highest roll, it is countered by Disadvantage, which has you roll 2D20 and keep the lowest. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, it is not a good thing either, especially when the mechanic in question is such an integral part of the new combat system. The way it is set up, a halfling rogue can gain Advantage as a simple move action as long as there is anything to hide behind, EVEN ANOTHER PLAYER. A rogue with Advantage will strike with their sneak attack, so a halfling rogue strikes each round from hiding (that gives Advantage) so it rolls 2D20, taking the highest, and if this is not enough, a halfling is "Naturally Lucky" allowing two rerolls of any die PER DAY. Not per session, per day.

Our Halfling rogue, Den, showed us just how dangerous this combination of abilities could be until he failed his sneak roll and took a spear to the torso from the ogre.

Well, that is it for today, I will be running our next session over the next weekend, and hope to see you all here for the continued adventures of our motley group of adventures.