Simple DnD Map Feedback 1

Warren Rose II

CAGD 270, 2/15/17

Simple DnD Feedback, First Playthrough on 2/9/17

Initial Version of Map

Changed Map Following My Turn As A Player

1. Action

I sat down with my two teammates and introduced the level as a buried town that had been colonized by goblins.  The Ranger raced south of the main corridor for the nearest treasure chest, while the Warrior headed north to free the captive NPC, held behind a door unlocked by an Escape check.  As part of what I had learned from the previous player’s map, I threw in a spike trap on the floor to illustrate the disarm/jump mechanic and had one of the goblins leap over it to demonstrate the system.  As it was quickly apparent that my 2/2/2 goblins were too powerful for the players in a swarm, I fudged them down to 1/1/1 and had the leaping goblin who rolled high enough to way overshoot the trap, knock himself unconscious by slamming into the far wall.  The Ranger decided to dodge around the goblin and the giant 3/3/0 rat guarding the nearest chest after the first flurry of blows, so I had the prize be a sleeping potion that was quickly used through a Magic Attack roll to knock out the giant rat.

By this time the Warrior had managed to get the captive NPC past the now disarmed trap and into the largest room of the map which I introduced as a buried opera house complete with a ruined chandelier that would slam down into the middle of the map, injuring the dragon boss and her underlings when a lever was pulled via escape check.  Unfortunately, we’d used too much time up in goblin combat so we ended things there.

2. Feedback

The flow of the level was apparent once the start position was marked, but we spent too much time exploring side corridors, they seemed too large for the five-square restriction on movement, to the point where I let the Warrior pick the jail cell door from a diagonal position.  My swarms of goblins definitely seemed unfair to new players, even after the nerf and an equalizer in the form of the sleeping potion so I plan to plan ahead much more when creating maps.

They seemed to like how I described the environment, to the point where they were disappointed they didn’t get to explore the dragon/lever section, which is nice, I guess.  In future versions of the map I should connect the southern treasure chest corridor back to the central corridor beyond the spike trap, because by the time the Warrior had brought the NPC to the dragon room, the Ranger was still about three movement turns away from the action.  I guess this is extra incentive for me to be prepared with a watch when running a session.

3.  Teaching

I feel most of the teachable skills were covered by the traps/locks and opportunities for combat I placed throughout the map.  I had planned on introducing the darkness mechanic through one of the corridors of the dragon room, but I was not sure how to and we didn’t make it that far.  I think that the best place might be to have the lever be covered in shadow, or the northern escape tunnel be only accessible with Light magic or through a torch awarded by defeating the dragon.  I had also intended for the freed NPC to be able to roll to pull the lever on her own if asked to, or be offered up as a meal that would reduce the dragon’s stats if the players wanted to go a self-serving route.

Pros

Well-described area
Interesting challenge posed
Clear path throughout
NPC showing off the Jump mechanic (poorly)

Cons

Map too hard to travel
Swarming enemies too hard for player ability
Not enough boosts available
Not appropriately geared for the twenty minute timeframe