I used a variant of this encounter with my own homecrafted foam terrain and miniatures. My pcs, though, did not start out on the rocky elevated terrain. The premise for this encounter was that they were fleeing a horde of mystically spellbound wolves under the control of a barghest shaman, and needed to light a beacon on one of the hills flanking the entrance to a canyon sacred to melora in order to summon the watcher‘s help (an old forest gnome druid of incredible power). So I had my heroes start out at the same edge of the map that the wolves would arrive from, and rolled a d4 to determine how many rounds they had before the wolves would catch up to them. Regular Wolves I handled as „tough minions“, which in my homebrew d&d 4e game means that they need to be hit twice before they go down. One hit, and they are bloodied. Two and they are dead. Dead wolves immediately „respawned“ as newly arriving wolves at the edge of the map. Dire Wolves I handled as brutes ( easy to hit, hard to take down due to many hp). Once the beacon was lit, another d4 determined how quickly help would arrive. Blocking the narrow canyon entrance with an avalanche of loosened rocks bought them time and killed a particularly ferocious dire wolf in hot pursuit of their bloodied rogue. Thanks for the inspiration, Hankerin! My players loved the tense action!
Love this so much!! Stealing this one for my first attempt at putting my toe into the homebrew world. Been running a preprinted adventure but my party is just not digging it. They want to play skyrim rather than Pathfinder, and I think after a weeks worth of watching these vids I have enough gas in the tank to pull it off. Its not rocket surgery after all. It's just playing pathfinder like a big ol' baddass.
Fanfrigintastc, as is your apparent default setting. I'm absolutely using your Gauntlet-esque spawner idea for the campaign I'm starting next month with a spider encounter. The suspense dice idea is clutch, as well.
Hankerin, I find these encounter videos way more entertaining and informative than watching session videos, which are dull. This is the way to present D&D like a big ol' badass! Getting the annual Yuletide/Xmas eve adventure together for the kids, and I may borrow/steal some thematic elements from this encounter. I've also started calling my daughter's Druid "Twiggs," as a nickname.
+Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass The gnome druidess, Ella Minipine, the Squirrel Whisper seems to be ok with the nickname for now. But she's 9 going on to a necrotic 14... And you gained 40 subs in the last hour! Dwarven ales all around!
The combination of your 3d and 2d tiles is great. the wooden tiles to improv a barbarian fortress, I would have thought to make new props but that would have been a waste.
Aw yea.... Absinthe! i have some every Christmas Eve for some reason, and at no other time... 3:57 I thought you would say "loyalty, self-sacrifice and beer" or something... Oooh, the White Waste -- I am reading Fafhrd & Mouser now for the first time, that's a good twist with alliteration and being German I like that. :) ... 7:50 Let's do the badass way? Can we do the badass way? YAAY! The Drunkens and Dragons guy said we could... 9:00 Here's a DM trick: the d4 Suspense Dice, "Read it, know it, live it"...One thing I like about Zeimer, he's smart...I really like the badass way... totally not boring, they have to use their wits or DIIIIIIEEEE and now you have all these new things to potentially investigate...Plus, that tree is awesome so I would not burn it and I would try to prevent that one guy in the every party that wants to burn everything.... 19:04 Did I mention I love Zeimer?...In the end, I hope that Gray Elk has homeowners insurance... 23:50 "They are NPCs, their destiny is to make the player characters look cool..."...I do voices & stuff like that in my car too, by the way...It makes me laugh...Can't wait to go to Frogwood! I just got three Green Hags, a cauldron and some Giant Frog minis so I can DM a simple game for a family with young kids, and maybe I will have the hags turning people into frogs... :)
Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass Woah...That is more KOOKOO than Absinthe? The first time I had that, I woke up with a new Ronco 3 AM commercial in mind: "Why have a samwich, when you can have a BA-ZAMWICH!!???" I would be a good marketer maybe...
Here is a good tip from the 5e DM Guide (p. 71): "Let the world's history be evident in the present situation. Instead of dealing with what happened in the past, an adventure should focus on describing the present situation." Just like the Drunkens and Dragons guy shows when he pretends to be the players going oh my god as the DM pretends to be the guy telling the story of the Northmen. "Fly north, Koosra. Fly north."
What i would do in the end is have something important be done with the warrior character from the past (forgot names) where his past story thing is important. In the fight with garret he is sent back in time, knowing he has to do something, which will in turn be incredibly helpful to the group. Say they find another statue of himself, and enraged they break it or you entice them to touch it because its cracked, and inside it is a scroll or something, where it says something important about garret or something. The warrior, sent back in time, will inturn place the statues with the scroll in it.
Suggestion: For the second encounter, give the "alpha" wolves a bonus action with recharge 5-6 that summons 1d4 wolves. The assault continues until all alphas are killed.
I like your description of the suspense dice, there are other ways also. And what do you think of minutes rather than rounds (to prepare)? Rounds forces the combat, of course - minutes would really make running seem more possible - any ideas for running them down?
+Bardic College Stream in my games 'minutes' basically means the entire encounter. running them down? ya, do sequential boards...i guess i need to do a chase video
Seeing you doing these mass spawning enemies brings to mind a question, something a new DM like myslef is often perplexed by. How does Hankerin' deal with initiative with so many enemies, especially if they keep spawning? Do you just have an init roll as the DM and carry out each action for each creature during "your" turn? Do you roll init for each creature as it enters? Inquiring minds want to know.... Seriously can you please do a key mechanics type vid just going over initiative? This is something I really struggle with, trying to find a way that is fair, but keeps the game engaging for the players who obviously have more fun on their turns than the DM's.
+Jeremy Pillipow Lumping all of the "evil" npc's initiative together helps a lot in terms of keeping the game from becoming too convoluted and bogged down with trying to keep track of a constantly changing turn order.
In a social encounter, how do you keep track of turns? I basically let my players roll initiative when a combat (is about to) happen(s), so how do you apply your 1d4 suspense die during a social encounter?
How do you not slaughter your party with that many enemies?? I'd love to throw these awesome swarms at my PC's but when a couple of wolves start attacking with advantage my PC's start getting shredded
+tomacze44 Good question! sounds like your players need to get scrappy! I've seen my group tactic/heal/kite/maneuver their way out of HUGE swarms. Start em off with really weak enemies in large numbers....but always ride the difference between challenge and unfun!
Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass I'm a fairly fresh DM and so i'm still finding it hard to judge whats awesome fun and what's going to turn into a slaughter/unfun experience. Thanks!
+Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass Thank you sir, badass channel btw. Devouring the content. Badass content = all the marketing you'll ever need. I send everyone your way.
I used a variant of this encounter with my own homecrafted foam terrain and miniatures.
My pcs, though, did not start out on the rocky elevated terrain. The premise for this encounter was that they were fleeing a horde of mystically spellbound wolves under the control of a barghest shaman, and needed to light a beacon on one of the hills flanking the entrance to a canyon sacred to melora in order to summon the watcher‘s help (an old forest gnome druid of incredible power).
So I had my heroes start out at the same edge of the map that the wolves would arrive from, and rolled a d4 to determine how many rounds they had before the wolves would catch up to them.
Regular Wolves I handled as „tough minions“, which in my homebrew d&d 4e game means that they need to be hit twice before they go down. One hit, and they are bloodied. Two and they are dead. Dead wolves immediately „respawned“ as newly arriving wolves at the edge of the map. Dire Wolves I handled as brutes ( easy to hit, hard to take down due to many hp).
Once the beacon was lit, another d4 determined how quickly help would arrive.
Blocking the narrow canyon entrance with an avalanche of loosened rocks bought them time and killed a particularly ferocious dire wolf in hot pursuit of their bloodied rogue.
Thanks for the inspiration, Hankerin! My players loved the tense action!
Great vids. New Sub. Probably just my gross immaturity, but every time you took a sip of the wyrmwood nearly pissed myself laughing.
Hahaha oh man, "that wont put hair on your chest, that'll put hair on your soul" i am totally using that one
Excellent!...love this series.
love the sideways tiles for the fort. you really have a way with playpiece utilization. keep on malortin!
a gnome home lmao. You highlight important information whilst hiding tokens of humor. Youre great, keep up the good work
Love this so much!! Stealing this one for my first attempt at putting my toe into the homebrew world. Been running a preprinted adventure but my party is just not digging it. They want to play skyrim rather than Pathfinder, and I think after a weeks worth of watching these vids I have enough gas in the tank to pull it off. Its not rocket surgery after all. It's just playing pathfinder like a big ol' baddass.
Helm: A link to the Past.
Fanfrigintastc, as is your apparent default setting. I'm absolutely using your Gauntlet-esque spawner idea for the campaign I'm starting next month with a spider encounter. The suspense dice idea is clutch, as well.
had the almost exact situation last session to introduce a new player.
Group barely survived.
Hankerin, I find these encounter videos way more entertaining and informative than watching session videos, which are dull. This is the way to present D&D like a big ol' badass!
Getting the annual Yuletide/Xmas eve adventure together for the kids, and I may borrow/steal some thematic elements from this encounter. I've also started calling my daughter's Druid "Twiggs," as a nickname.
+Drunken Hobgoblin As druid names go, it's tough to beat
+Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass The gnome druidess, Ella Minipine, the Squirrel Whisper seems to be ok with the nickname for now. But she's 9 going on to a necrotic 14...
And you gained 40 subs in the last hour! Dwarven ales all around!
I am invested in the story now, I hope there is a part 5!
this Marine salutes you ! absolute badass
Awesomely awesome with a flaming spear of awesome!.
Fuuug, mang, I could watch this shit forever.
The combination of your 3d and 2d tiles is great. the wooden tiles to improv a barbarian fortress, I would have thought to make new props but that would have been a waste.
Aw yea.... Absinthe! i have some every Christmas Eve for some reason, and at no other time... 3:57 I thought you would say "loyalty, self-sacrifice and beer" or something... Oooh, the White Waste -- I am reading Fafhrd & Mouser now for the first time, that's a good twist with alliteration and being German I like that. :) ... 7:50 Let's do the badass way? Can we do the badass way? YAAY! The Drunkens and Dragons guy said we could... 9:00 Here's a DM trick: the d4 Suspense Dice, "Read it, know it, live it"...One thing I like about Zeimer, he's smart...I really like the badass way... totally not boring, they have to use their wits or DIIIIIIEEEE and now you have all these new things to potentially investigate...Plus, that tree is awesome so I would not burn it and I would try to prevent that one guy in the every party that wants to burn everything.... 19:04 Did I mention I love Zeimer?...In the end, I hope that Gray Elk has homeowners insurance... 23:50 "They are NPCs, their destiny is to make the player characters look cool..."...I do voices & stuff like that in my car too, by the way...It makes me laugh...Can't wait to go to Frogwood! I just got three Green Hags, a cauldron and some Giant Frog minis so I can DM a simple game for a family with young kids, and maybe I will have the hags turning people into frogs... :)
+Violet Deliriums hahah u crazy, even for a german. and btw...wormwood and absinthe..SO not the same! wormwood crazier than u!
Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass Woah...That is more KOOKOO than Absinthe? The first time I had that, I woke up with a new Ronco 3 AM commercial in mind: "Why have a samwich, when you can have a BA-ZAMWICH!!???" I would be a good marketer maybe...
same. last time I had Absinthe we wound up lost in that bizarre 'govt district' in prague. still, wormwood is weirder...weirder even than prague.
+Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass nutzo...thank you for the advice Drunkens and Dragons guy...
When I hear Wolves of the North , I think ware-winter wolves.
You’re brilliant dude
22:49 K go here before Campaign Encounters 5 to refresh... Plus it is informative... especially the history of the barbarians... haha!
Here is a good tip from the 5e DM Guide (p. 71): "Let the world's history be evident in the present situation. Instead of dealing with what happened in the past, an adventure should focus on describing the present situation." Just like the Drunkens and Dragons guy shows when he pretends to be the players going oh my god as the DM pretends to be the guy telling the story of the Northmen. "Fly north, Koosra. Fly north."
more campaign encounters!
This has been fantastic!
We care not for hags and wizards hiding in swamps!
+Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass hey! i like my swamp hags!
+Violet Deliriums
Do you live in Louisiana?
Jonathan Brouwer no.
Louisiana sure seems like the kind of place you'd run into swamp hags : D
Jonathan Brouwer possibly....
What i would do in the end is have something important be done with the warrior character from the past (forgot names) where his past story thing is important. In the fight with garret he is sent back in time, knowing he has to do something, which will in turn be incredibly helpful to the group. Say they find another statue of himself, and enraged they break it or you entice them to touch it because its cracked, and inside it is a scroll or something, where it says something important about garret or something. The warrior, sent back in time, will inturn place the statues with the scroll in it.
+Stephen Grant bill. and. ted.
My subscribtion somehow didn't register. Here I was thinking "he hasn't uploaded a video in MONTHS. wtf". So, that happens now..
Suggestion:
For the second encounter, give the "alpha" wolves a bonus action with recharge 5-6 that summons 1d4 wolves. The assault continues until all alphas are killed.
+the3rdgray oh shit! awesome!
Wormwood! ;)
I like your description of the suspense dice, there are other ways also. And what do you think of minutes rather than rounds (to prepare)? Rounds forces the combat, of course - minutes would really make running seem more possible - any ideas for running them down?
+Bardic College Stream in my games 'minutes' basically means the entire encounter. running them down? ya, do sequential boards...i guess i need to do a chase video
I tried using the chase cards from Pizo - it was disappointing. I look forward to your ideas and chase video
on it!
Hello! Could you show me or let me know how you made those bushes?
+Porco Dragão foam base, toothpicks, MOSS
Zeimer is rather old.
I see Burning Wheel on your shelf; clearly a man of taste and discernment. Have you managed to play it yet? This viewer requests a review.
+Questing Beast yep we did 2 nights...ew
+Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass I'm torn over Burning Wheel. I'd really love a review as well.
it shall be done!
Seeing you doing these mass spawning enemies brings to mind a question, something a new DM like myslef is often perplexed by. How does Hankerin' deal with initiative with so many enemies, especially if they keep spawning? Do you just have an init roll as the DM and carry out each action for each creature during "your" turn? Do you roll init for each creature as it enters? Inquiring minds want to know....
Seriously can you please do a key mechanics type vid just going over initiative? This is something I really struggle with, trying to find a way that is fair, but keeps the game engaging for the players who obviously have more fun on their turns than the DM's.
+Jeremy Pillipow all as one!
+Jeremy Pillipow Lumping all of the "evil" npc's initiative together helps a lot in terms of keeping the game from becoming too convoluted and bogged down with trying to keep track of a constantly changing turn order.
take it further! we just roll to see who wins. they go first. CLOCKWISE. boom
In a social encounter, how do you keep track of turns? I basically let my players roll initiative when a combat (is about to) happen(s), so how do you apply your 1d4 suspense die during a social encounter?
defintly...socializing with no time limit os boring. a turn = one basic thing to say/get across/do...
So you use turns also inside social encounters? Interesting
yep..or at least an hourglass timer....all depends on teh tone of the moment!
what is that stuff hes drinking?
burr
How do you not slaughter your party with that many enemies?? I'd love to throw these awesome swarms at my PC's but when a couple of wolves start attacking with advantage my PC's start getting shredded
+tomacze44 Good question! sounds like your players need to get scrappy! I've seen my group tactic/heal/kite/maneuver their way out of HUGE swarms. Start em off with really weak enemies in large numbers....but always ride the difference between challenge and unfun!
Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass
I'm a fairly fresh DM and so i'm still finding it hard to judge whats awesome fun and what's going to turn into a slaughter/unfun experience. Thanks!
Always err on deadly I say...the game has so much more gravity, speed, and screaming when it's razors edge
I want to do that but i'd half expect the party to pull a last stand instead of running. Maybe they'll learn then :P
Let it happen! Drop them, but don't finish them off. Ride that edge, and in time they'll become scrappy fighters.
So what happened to the next part?? D:
Liosvart D. Mendoza almost done
What's the material used for the base? Some type of foam?
+crusaderad yep, 2" blue fro mlowe's
+Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass Thank you sir, badass channel btw. Devouring the content. Badass content = all the marketing you'll ever need. I send everyone your way.
SKOL!
Did he ever make part 5?
not yet...
Runehammer please tell us how it ends!!!