Monday night I sat in my study preparing for Wednesday’s session of Encounters. Unfortunately, I was dwelling on the negative. I was disappointed in my ability to get the players to connect with Splintershield in the first half of the season. If I had, then his death would have been more than just a plot device; it would have inspired the players to have their characters live on the edge in defense of their home(s) instead of just going through the paces of the adventure.
This week sets up the rest of the season and is integral in getting the players to buy in to what happens (or could happen) at the climax. If I do this right, it will result in a much more satisfying conclusion to thirteen weeks of work. The challenge for this session is to make sure I role play all my ideas instead of merely turning the first part of this encounter into an info dump. Here is what I planned:

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I am enjoying running this season of encounters. Big chunks of time between chapters are something new and leave openings for players to add history to their character as they grow. The story is good and I like that they get to face their recurring enemy often, unlike last season when it was eight weeks before they had an encounter with their foil.

I do have a couple requests for the future. Hopefully they could add just a few more paragraphs of information to enhance the story and roleplaying experience. Hammerfast is called a necropolis once in the module. In the adventure summary the plot for this week is revealed as “Vladistone turns the ghosts of Hammerfast against its citizens” but the magnitude of the ghost population is never really revealed until after the boxed text for this session. Just a paragraph or two from the Hammerfast supplement that was released a few years ago would be helpful. A player on his or her toes in week one may have asked, why is Hammerfast a Necropolis? The module does not provide this information. I know as a player I would have gotten much more satisfaction if a big hint got dropped week one that I had a shot at putting together for the future so come week nine we are not caught totally off guard.

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Chapter Two of March of the Phantom Brigade started off on a high. Six full months of prosperity rolled out for the settlers of New Inverness. Despite the dire warnings of Salazar Vladistone, a soldierly ghost that approached the ruins after the cleansing ritual, the people of the settlement were unmolested by any spirits. The group even gained another companion, Fargrim a dwarf who follows the way of the woodlands.

Members of the party spent those months training with newly developed skills that they earned during the founding of New Inverness. The time was good for everyone, everyone but Faldyra. She became a bit of a drunk under Niveus’ tutelage since she was unable to find a way into the ghost tower. Everything was going fine for the town until…

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Each week we’ll be breaking down a session of the weekly Dungeons and Dragons Encounters series. “Encounters” is a once a week game session that plays in about 1-2 hours at your local game/hobby/comic shop. It’s great for people with busy schedules or those looking to get back into the hobby. This season is called “March of the Phantom Brigade” and what follows is the wrap-up from week 1. Enjoy!

Look at the end of the article for the chance to win a few packs of D&D fortune cards, courtesy of PerpetualGeekMachine!

The following recap is spoiler filled, read ahead at your own risk!

This week in encounters, role playing!

To start the adventure the players were told their characters were protectors of a caravan out of the Dwarven city of Hammerfast destined to establish a new settlement to the southwest. The adventurers promised to defend the caravan with their lives! Among them were Nivius a Human Mage, Morgram a Dwarven Warpriest and Belgos a Drow Ranger. They spoke of how they were looking forward to getting away from the perpetually haunted Hammerfast.

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We are about to start another season of Dungeons and Dragons Encounters. This season is “March of the Phantom Brigade” and, at the risk of sounding cliché, promises to give players much more of a chance to role play and not just roll play.

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